07 Apr 15
2 edits
Originally posted by sonhouse"...Mars has distinct polar ice caps, but Mars also has belts of glaciers at its central latitudes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. A thick layer of dust covers the glaciers, so they appear as surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that underneath the dust there are glaciers composed of frozen water. New studies have now calculated the size of the glaciers and thus the amount of water in the glaciers. It is the equivalent of all of Mars being covered by more than one meter of ice.
http://phys.org/news/2015-04-mars-belts-glaciers-frozen.html#nRlv
Good news for Martian colonists!
..."
I think a good choice for a place for a first human colony on Mars (assuming any place on Mars would be a 'good' choice! ) be right up to the very edge of such a glacier so they would have both mineral resources to mine from the rock and water-ice from the glacier a stones throw away.