NASA’s wish to follow the water on Mars just got a helping hand.
Scientists have released a new global map showing water ice that is as little as 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) below the Red Planet’s surface.
With data in hand, the research team located at least one promising landing spot for future astronaut missions: a big zone in the northern hemisphere’s Arcadia Planitia. This area has a lot of water ice close to the surface and is in the ideal location for a human Mars mission, because it is in a temperate, midlatitude region with plenty of sunlight, the research team wrote in a new study describing the findings.