A possible glacier on Mars could fundamentally change human exploration

Signs of a modern glacier have been found near the equator on Mars, which could be a major boon in the race to land humans on the red planet.

Finding significant supplies of accessible water is a key goal for teams working to send humans to Mars. Previous research has focused on higher latitudes, where conditions are better suited to stable ice, but also more challenging for humans (and robots).

However, the most recent discovery did not find ice itself on the equator, but what appears to be a layer of salt covering it.

Researchers from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the Mars Institute have discovered so-called Light-Colored Deposits (LTDs). These deposits, discovered using data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, are evidence of what they call a “remnant glacier.”

“What we found is not ice, but a salt deposit with the detailed morphological features of a glacier,” said lead author Dr. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist at SETI and the Mars Institute. “What we think happened here is that salt formed on a glacier while preserving the shape of the ice below, down to details like crevasses and moraine bands.”

The team theorizes that previous volcanic activity in the region covered the glacier with ash, pumice and lava blocks that reacted with the water ice to form a salty crust. Over time, erosion has eroded the volcanic layer and exposed the salt deposits.

Similar situations have been observed on Earth. On the Altiplano – the Andean plateau – in South America, the glacial ice is protected from melting under a layer of salt.

“The desire to land humans in a place where they could potentially extract water ice from the ground has prompted mission planners to consider locations at higher latitudes,” Lee said.

“But the latter environments tend to be colder and more challenging for humans and robots. If there were equatorial locations where ice could be found at shallow depths, we’d have the best of both environments: warmer conditions for human exploration and still access to ice.” .

The potential glacier is believed to be about 6 km long and 4 km wide, with coordinates 7°33′ S, 93°14′ W – which is roughly where on Earth the Galapagos Islands are located.

Both NASA and China are working on manned missions to Mars. China plans to launch its first mission in 2033, while NASA aims for late 2030 or early 2040.

Last year, the agency successfully launched its new Orion spacecraft, which it hopes will take its Artemis III team to the moon in 2025 — a first step toward longer-term settlement and a launch pad for interplanetary exploration. Earlier this week, it unveiled its new space suit for the mission.