Erosion on Mars Reveals Water Ice: LOTS of It!

By Nicole Mortillaro

When we think of Mars, we think of a dry, desolate planet. But beneath the dust of Mars lies frozen water, and a new study has found that erosion is exposing that water ice.

Researchers using several satellites, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), have revealed eight locations of steep slopes, or scarps, all at mid-latitudes on the Red Planet. And that ice could be used as a potential resource by future visitors.

“What they show is slices through ice, in some places the ice is 100 metres thick and starts within a metre or two of the surface,” Colin Dundas, a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Centre, told CBC News.

Read the full article at CBC.ca.