MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences has found water vapor practically throughout the atmosphere of the northern hemisphere and the south pole of Mars, the Federal Space Agency said.
The discovery of the Russian scientists refutes "the general theory that water in the supersaturated form cannot exist in the extremely thin atmosphere of the planet at such altitudes," the agency said.
Water vapor was found at the altitudes of 20 to 50 kilometers with the help of the SPICAM multi-role optical spectrometer installed in the Mars Express research rover.
SPICAM built jointly by Russia, Belgium and the United States incorporates six research instruments. Three of them, including the infra-red spectrometer measuring water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, were designed and produced by the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute.