See Also<\/h4>\n\n- Mars Forum Section<\/li>\n
- MSL Forum Section<\/li>\n
- L2 Exploration Section<\/li>\n
- Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The depth of this water ice ranges from 2.3 centimeters (1 inch) to 0.8 meters (or just under 3 feet).<\/p>\n
For the deposits located 2.5 centimeters under the Martian topsoil, \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t need a backhoe to dig [it] up. You could use a shovel,\u201d said Sylvain Piqueux of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n
Even the water ice located 0.8 meters under the Martian surface would be accessible to future astronauts on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n
These new findings, along with the growing database of research from the international fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers is helping Mars mission planners with early initiatives of identifying suitable areas on the Red Planet where human missions should land.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Mars-water-ice-map.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This rainbow-colored map shows underground water ice on Mars. Cool colors are closer to the surface than warm colors; black zones indicate areas where a spacecraft would sink into fine dust; the outlined box represents the ideal region to send astronauts for them to dig up water ice. (Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU)<\/p>\n
The answer will largely come down to where on Mars astronauts would be best positioned to use the planet\u2019s natural resources for the advancement of the mission.<\/p>\n
This is known as in-situ resource utilization; basically, the more natural elements that can be used on Mars, the fewer supplies need to be launched on missions to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n
If water can be mined and used, the less water astronauts have to take with them.<\/p>\n
If elements can be used to produce rocket fuel on Mars, then the fuel needed to return a rocket to Earth does not have to be taken with the mission from the start.<\/p>\n
In-situ resource utilization is all about working smarter and more efficiently with the resources available on Mars.<\/p>\n
To this end, \u201cWe\u2019re continuing to collect data on buried ice on Mars, zeroing in on the best places for astronauts to land,\u201d said Piqueux.<\/p>\n
The discovery of the bands of water ice locked away under the Martian surface was made using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter\u2019s Mars Climate Sounder instruments and the Mars Odyssey\u2019s Thermal Emission Imaging System camera.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Screen-Shot-2018-11-25-at-15.59.27.png\")
<\/p>\n
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Credit: NASA\/JPL)<\/p>\n
These two instruments provided scientists with a heat map of Mars, and the researchers were able to calibrate the instruments to look specifically for the tell-tale planetary structure temperature changes that occur in the presence of water ice.<\/p>\n
The temperature signatures were then cross-referenced with known water ice deposit locations and Mars Odyssey\u2019s Gamma Ray Spectrometer \u2013 which was designed specifically to look for and map water ice deposits on Mars.<\/p>\n
Researchers expected to find evidence of water ice in the midlatitude and polar regions, but the true surprise came with how shallow the deposits were.<\/p>\n
The most wide-spread shallow deposits were identified in the Arcadia Planitia region of Mars\u2019 northern hemisphere, making it a tempting target for some of the first human Martian landings.<\/p>\n
Arcadia Planitia is now understood to contain large deposits of water ice just 30 centimeters (1 foot) below the surface.<\/p>\n
While the information presented from NASA in the study is almost exclusively NASA-centric (i.e., only about future NASA human Martian landings), the findings arguably hold far more immediate importance for the other major giant in U.S. interplanetary human exploration: SpaceX.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The depth of this water ice ranges from 2.3 centimeters (1 inch) to 0.8 meters (or just under 3 feet).<\/p>\n
For the deposits located 2.5 centimeters under the Martian topsoil, \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t need a backhoe to dig [it] up. You could use a shovel,\u201d said Sylvain Piqueux of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n
Even the water ice located 0.8 meters under the Martian surface would be accessible to future astronauts on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n
These new findings, along with the growing database of research from the international fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers is helping Mars mission planners with early initiatives of identifying suitable areas on the Red Planet where human missions should land.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This rainbow-colored map shows underground water ice on Mars. Cool colors are closer to the surface than warm colors; black zones indicate areas where a spacecraft would sink into fine dust; the outlined box represents the ideal region to send astronauts for them to dig up water ice. (Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU)<\/p>\n
The answer will largely come down to where on Mars astronauts would be best positioned to use the planet\u2019s natural resources for the advancement of the mission.<\/p>\n
This is known as in-situ resource utilization; basically, the more natural elements that can be used on Mars, the fewer supplies need to be launched on missions to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n
If water can be mined and used, the less water astronauts have to take with them.<\/p>\n
If elements can be used to produce rocket fuel on Mars, then the fuel needed to return a rocket to Earth does not have to be taken with the mission from the start.<\/p>\n
In-situ resource utilization is all about working smarter and more efficiently with the resources available on Mars.<\/p>\n
To this end, \u201cWe\u2019re continuing to collect data on buried ice on Mars, zeroing in on the best places for astronauts to land,\u201d said Piqueux.<\/p>\n
The discovery of the bands of water ice locked away under the Martian surface was made using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter\u2019s Mars Climate Sounder instruments and the Mars Odyssey\u2019s Thermal Emission Imaging System camera.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Credit: NASA\/JPL)<\/p>\n
These two instruments provided scientists with a heat map of Mars, and the researchers were able to calibrate the instruments to look specifically for the tell-tale planetary structure temperature changes that occur in the presence of water ice.<\/p>\n
The temperature signatures were then cross-referenced with known water ice deposit locations and Mars Odyssey\u2019s Gamma Ray Spectrometer \u2013 which was designed specifically to look for and map water ice deposits on Mars.<\/p>\n
Researchers expected to find evidence of water ice in the midlatitude and polar regions, but the true surprise came with how shallow the deposits were.<\/p>\n
The most wide-spread shallow deposits were identified in the Arcadia Planitia region of Mars\u2019 northern hemisphere, making it a tempting target for some of the first human Martian landings.<\/p>\n
Arcadia Planitia is now understood to contain large deposits of water ice just 30 centimeters (1 foot) below the surface.<\/p>\n
While the information presented from NASA in the study is almost exclusively NASA-centric (i.e., only about future NASA human Martian landings), the findings arguably hold far more immediate importance for the other major giant in U.S. interplanetary human exploration: SpaceX.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n