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Images Reveal 3D Structure of Ice on Mars

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/USGS
This HiRISE image cutout shows Recurring Slope Lineae in Tivat crater on Mars in enhanced color

We’ve known for a decade or more that there is water, albeit frozen, on Mars. Now, a new analysis of satellite images reveals the whereabouts of eight substantial ice deposits. The US Geological Survey has published the findings in the journal Science, saying that there’s ice under a third of the surface of Mars. Some of the ice is just a few feet below the surface, while other deposits are under 300 feet of rocks and dust. This is important information for those who are working on sending humans to Mars. It could also be a trove of information about the climate history of the red planet. We talk with the lead author of the study, USGS scientist ColinDundas.

 

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Elsa Partan is a producer and newscaster with CAI. She first came to the station in 2002 as an intern and fell in love with radio. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. From 2006 to 2009, she covered the state of Wyoming for the NPR member station Wyoming Public Media in Laramie. She was a newspaper reporter at The Mashpee Enterprise from 2010 to 2013. She lives in Falmouth with her husband and two daughters.