More Ice on Mars than previously thought

Water below the surface of mars isn't a secret. It's the total depth of that water that is / was ....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/11/a-fantastic-find-mars-covered-in-thick-sheets-of-ice-just-below-the-surface/?utm_term=.bf699db955d4

Planetary scientists located eight of these geological features, called scarps, on the Red Planet. An analysis of the scarps revealed that thick ice hides just below the surface. This ice, the researchers say, could be a tempting target for future exploration — as well as a valuable resource for Earthlings camped out on Mars.

The newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapped the surface in greater detail. Dundas and his colleagues used its pictures to locate exposed ice in small craters, glaciers and ice sheets. “The high-resolution data has greatly improved our understanding of various ice-related land forms,” he said.

Open University's Matt Balme, a planetary scientist in Britain who did not participate in this study, said the key findings were the color images of a bluish tint. That indicates a sub-layer that is “somehow compositionally different” than the red dirt. It is unlikely that the frozen sheets are a mix of water and soil. “If the conclusions of the paper are correct,” he said, “you’re looking at something that's almost pure ice.”

This is exciting for multiple reasons.

A. our next mission to looks for life or signs of it can be tailored around large bodies of subsurface ice sheets.
B. Manned Missions to mars could use the Ice as a resource as well
C. I fucking love space and it's cool shit.