Large Frozen Water Deposit Found On Mars

Using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists have found a huge reservoir of water frozen beneath a region of cracked and pitted plains on the red planet. This may prove to be a vital resource for astronauts in the future. Researchers examined part of the Utopia Planitia region on Mars, in the mid-northern latitudes, with the orbiter’s ground penetrating Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument. Analyses of data from more than 600 overhead passes unveil a deposit more extensive in area than the US state of New Mexico, and that could hold about as much water as in Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes of North America. The deposit ranges in thickness from about 80 to about 170 metres, with a composition that is 50 to 85% water ice, mixed with dust or larger rocky particles.