Vast areas of low latitude subsurface ice found on Mars
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - 16:00
in Astronomy & Space
There could be more subsurface ice on Mars than previously thought, and vast stretches of it may lie just south of the equator. Indeed, one of the proposed landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory could hold the mother lode of enticing scientific prospects. Observations from two spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express, have revealed potential subsurface ice deposits in areas just south of the equator, including one near Holden Crater, with an estimated reservoir of perennial subsurface water ice of about 50 500 kg m-2 just two or three meters beneath the surface. This is the first evidence of ice at tropical latitudes on Mars as low as 25 degrees.