Welcome to brain stuff. From how stuff works. Hey, they are brain stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. Mars has large deposits of near pure water ice just beneath the surface at mid latitudes, a discovery that could have huge implications for future human settlement of the Red planet. Astronauts could essentially just go there with a bucket and shovel and get all the water they need, said Shane burn in
a press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Burne, who works at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, co authored a new study using the suite of instruments and cameras on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter or m r O to uncover this icy find. Buried just a few meters under the ground and covered by fused rock and dust. These layers of ice were discovered at
eight sites in eroded scarps or steep hillsides. The most exciting thing about these sites is that they're in regions that could be accessible to future Mars explorers at to fifty eight degrees latitude in the north, othern and southern hemisphere, negating the need for traveling to challenging polar latitudes to access a frozen water supply. These ice deposits come from layers of ancient snow that became buried under rock and more snow over time. These deposits have become exposed as
these scarps eroded. But how did layers of snow become deposited at such low latitudes in the first place. Although Mars currently exhibits ice and snow on the surface only at high latitudes, this wasn't always the case. Mars experienced shifts in its climate over the eons as its axis of rotation changes. Its axial tilt currently approximates that of Earth's, but over the course of hundreds of thousands, and even millions of years, mars tilt has varied dramatically, driving global
climatic shifts. Scientists can therefore use the information recorded in these scarps as an ancient geological record of how Mars's climate has evolved. Leslie Tempari, m r O, Deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told us, if you had a mission at one of these sites, say umpling the layers going down the scarp, you could get a
detailed climate history of Mars. It's part of the whole story of what happens to water on Mars over time, Where does it go, when does ice accumulate, when does it recede. The study, which has been published in the journal Science, is a real help to future human Mars mission planners. To set up a viable human presence on the Martian surface, astronauts will need to harness on site resources. It would be wildly prohibitively expensive to bring all the water, fuel,
and building supplies with them from Earth. Tapping into a plentiful supply of near pure water ice will be critical for providing drinking water and a fuel resource, not to mention irrigation for crops. Previously, scientists have confirmed large deposits of subsurface water ice using ground penetrating radar, but the information about what the ice is mixed with and the
quantity of water has been difficult to decipher. Now, by studying these scarps, scientists have found that these deposits are close to being pure water ice, and through observations by orbiting space, we know where to send our astronauts too big for water. Today's episode was written by Ian O'Neill and produced by Tristan McNeil. For more on this and lots of other cool topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.