o say there are some myths circulating about Martian dust storms would be an understatement.
 Mars is known for its globe-encircling dust storms, the likes of which are seen nowhere else.
 Science fiction writers and Hollywood movies often make the dust storms out to be more dangerous
 than they really are. In “The Martian,” a powerful dust storm destroys equipment, 
 strands Matt Damon on Mars, and forces him into a brutal struggle for survival.

A panorama image of the Opportunity rover, showing the solar panels. The rover’s science operations
 were shut down because of the growing global dust storm. Eventually, Opportunity ceased functioning.
Credit: By NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell –  
 Public Domain (NASA),
Public Domain (Wikipedia)

 The Aonia-Solis-Valles Marineris is a region on Mars spanning from Aonia Terr through
 Solis Planum to Valles Marineris.
 Image Credit: By Jim Secosky modified NASA image.
  Public Domain (WIKIPEDIA)

MOLA REGIONAL BOUNDARIES(PDF)

Rossby waves naturally occur in rotating fluids. Within the Earth's ocean and atmosphere, these planetary waves
 play a significant role in shaping weather. This animation from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shows 
 both long and short atmospheric waves as indicated by the jet stream. The colors represent the speed of the wind
 ranging from slowest (light blue colors) to fastest (dark red). 
Oceanic and atmospheric Rossby waves — also known as planetary waves — naturally occur largely due to the Earth's rotation.
 These waves affect the planet's weather and climate.
Oceanic Rossby Waves
Waves in the ocean come in many different shapes and sizes. Slow-moving oceanic Rossby waves are are fundamentally 
different from ocean surface waves. Unlike waves that break along the shore, Rossby waves are huge, undulating movements
 of the ocean that stretch horizontally across the planet for hundreds of kilometers in a westward direction.
 They are so large and massive that they can change Earth's climate conditions. Along with rising sea levels, 
 King Tides, and the effects of El Niño, oceanic Rossby waves contribute to high tides and coastal flooding
 in some regions of the world. 
Rossby wave movement is complex. The horizontal wave speed of a Rossby (the amount of time it takes the wave
 to travel across an ocean basin) is dependent upon the latitude of the wave. In the Pacific, for instance,
 waves at lower latitudes (closer to the equator) may take months to a year to cross the ocean.
 Waves that form farther away from the equator (at mid-latitudes) of the Pacific may take closer to 10 to 20 years 
 to make the journey. The vertical motion of Rossby waves is small along the ocean's surface and large along the
 deeper thermocline — the transition area between the ocean's warm upper layer and colder depths.
 This variation in vertical motion of the water's surface can be quite dramatic: the typical vertical movement 
 of the water's surface is generally four inches or less, while the vertical movement of the thermocline
 for the same wave is approximately 1,000 times greater. In other words, for a four inch or less surface
 displacement along the ocean surface, there may be more than 300 feet of corresponding vertical movement
 in the thermocline far below the surface! Due to the small vertical movement along the ocean surface,
 oceanic Rossby waves are undetectable by the human eye. Scientists typically rely on satellite radar altimetry 
 to detect the massive waves.
Atmospheric Rossby Waves
According to the National Weather Service, atmospheric Rossby waves form primarily as a result of the Earth's geography. Rossby waves help transfer heat from the tropics toward the poles and cold air toward the tropics in an attempt to return atmosphere to balance. They also help locate the jet stream and mark out the track of surface low pressure systems. The slow motion of these waves often results in fairly long, persistent weather patterns


Source NOAA


Edit: planetary waves on the sun. 
Letter details 
The detection of Rossby-like waves on the Sun

Scott W. McIntosh, William J. Cramer
Robert J. Leamon


Nature Astronomy volume 1, Article number: 0086 (2017)
doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0086

March 9, 2017
This movie clip shows a global map of Mars with atmospheric changes from Feb. 18, 2017, through March 6, 2017, 
a period when two regional-scale dust storms appeared. It combines hundreds of images from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI)
 camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The date for each map in the series is given at upper left. Dust storms appear as pale tan. In the opening frames, 
one appears left of center, near the top (north) of the map, then grows in size as it moves south, 
eventually spreading to about half the width of the map after reaching the southern hemisphere.
 As the dust from that first storm becomes more diffuse in the south, another storm appears near the center of the map 
 in the final frames.
In viewing the movie, it helps to understand some of the artifacts produced by the nature of MARCI images
 when seen in animation. MARCI acquires images in swaths from pole-to-pole during the dayside portion of 
 each orbit. The camera can cover the entire planet in just over 12 orbits, and takes about one day to 
 accumulate this coverage. The individual swaths for each day are assembled into a false-color, map-projected mosaic
 for the day. Equally spaced blurry areas that run from south-to-north result from the high off-nadir viewing geometry
 in those parts of each swath, a product of the spacecraft’s low orbit. Portions with sharper-looking details are the
 central part of an image, viewing more directly downward through less atmosphere than the obliquely viewed portions
 . MARCI has a 180-degree field of view, and Mars fills about 78 percent of that field of view when the camera is pointed down 
 at the planet. However, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter often is pointed to one side or the other off its orbital track 
 in order to acquire targeted observations by other imaging systems on the spacecraft. When such rolls exceed 
 about 20 degrees, gaps occur in the mosaic of MARCI swaths. Other dark gaps appear where data are missing.
It isn't easy to see the actual dust motion in the atmosphere in these images, owing to the apparent motion of these 
artifacts. However, by concentrating on specific surface features (craters, prominent ice deposits, etc.) 
and looking for the tan clouds of dust, it is possible to see where the storms start and how they grow,
 move and eventually dissipate.
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, provided and operates MARCI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division 
of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
 Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.

Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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This image of a spiral-shaped dust storm was captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC.) 
The brown color of the storm contrasts well against the white of the polar ice cap.
 Image Credit: ESA/Mars Express/HRSC

This series of images captured by the Visual Monitoring Camera onboard ESA’s Mars Express covers about 70 minutes 
of motion as a dust storm moves along the north polar ice cap of Mars on 29 May 2019. The storm moved with 
an approximate speed of 20 m/s. The polar ice cap covers much of the left of the image while the storm is seen on the right.
Mars Express was moving along its orbit but the images have been re-projected as if the observer was stationary,
 to make the motion of the storm clearer. The illumination angle of the Sun changes between image frames, 
 highlighting the structures in the dust clouds.
The black margins arise from the variable distance of Mars Express to the planet along its orbit: 
closer to the planet it cannot always image the same parts of the surface in consecutive images.
 Image Credit: ESA/GCP/UPV/EHU Bilbao

A montage of images showing both dust storms and clouds of water ice.
 Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

NASA'S MRO PAGE

The yellow-white cloud in the bottom-center of this image is a Mars “dust tower” – 
a concentrated cloud of dust that can be lofted dozens of miles above the surface.
 The blue-white plumes are water vapor clouds.
 This image was taken on Nov. 30, 2010, by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 
 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Mars Climate Sounder instrument mapped both hemispheres of Mars during the
 2018 global dust storm. On the left, the tiny circle near the center marks
 the location of Curiosity. On the right, the three Tharsus Montes volcanoes
 are visible, as well as Olympus Mons. The colors show how much light is being
 blocked by the dust. Red is the most extreme, with only about 5% of the Sun’s energy
 reaching the surface.
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL

This graphic shows the ongoing contributions of NASA’s rovers
 and orbiters during 2018 Martian dust storm.
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is always watching storms.
 This one is Utopia Planitia, on November 7th, 2007.
 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The Martian atmosphere is a lot different than Earth’s. It’s over 95% carbon dioxide,
 and contains only trace amounts of oxygen and water vapor. But that trace amount 
 of water vapor still plays a pronounced role in the climate.

This simulation shows the cloud lifecycle on Mars over one day. Cleary visible are the three
volcanic peaks at Tharsis Montes, as well as Olympus Mons. Image 
Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/D. Ellsworth

Mars’ north polar ice cap, captured by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. Some researchers concluded
 that if melted, the polar ice cap would create enough water to cover Mars in 1.5 meters of water.
 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Impact-generated climate change is one possible cause of Mars’ early warm, wet environment. 
Image Credit: Colaprete et al, 2004.

This image is from a scientific visualization of the electric currents around Mars. Electric currents (blue  and red arrows)
 envelop Mars in a nested, double-loop structure that wraps continuously around the planet from its day side to its night side. 
 These current loops distort the solar wind magnetic field (not pictured), which drapes around Mars to create an 
 induced magnetosphere around the planet. In the process, the currents electrically connect Mars’ upper atmosphere 
 and the induced magnetosphere to the solar wind, transferring electric and magnetic energy generated at the boundary 
 of the induced magnetosphere (faint inner paraboloid) and at the solar wind bow shock (faint outer paraboloid).
 Credits: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVS/Cindy Starr

Mars is in the spotlight now, as both SpaceX and NASA are preparing their long range plans to send humans to the Red Planet.
 But Mars is an inhospitable environment, especially because of its tenuous and poisonous atmosphere of carbon dioxide.
Did Mars have a better atmosphere in the past? How did it get destroyed, and what can we do to replenish
 it to make the planet more habitable in the future?

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If you were to travel to the surface of Mars right now, without a proper spacesuit, your life would become
 immediately, uh, unpleasant. With a dramatically lower atmospheric pressure, all the air in your lungs
 would come rushing out. And without the oxygen in your blood stream, you’d pass out within seconds,
 and asphyxiate within a couple of minutes. Mars, sucks.
And the biggest reason is that Mars is so hostile is because of its terrible atmosphere. 
Here on Earth, you’re experiencing a column of air, pressing down on you, enabling 
all that breathing that you seem to like to do.
The atmosphere on Mars, on the other hand, is only 1% the pressure we have here on Earth.
 Furthermore, it’s made almost entirely of carbon dioxide, which I’m sure you know is poisonous to breathe.
The lack of a thick atmosphere means that Mars is cold, so cold all the water on the planet 
is locked up in eternal polar ice caps. So cold that carbon dioxide freezes out of the atmosphere
 and falls as snow in the north pole. Just in case you weren’t aware, 
 temperatures need to be -78.5 degrees C for carbon dioxide to freeze.

Was Mars always this way? What changed to make the planet so terrible, and what could we do to bring it back?
Caption author (Polish)
Lepsza Nazwa

An image from an animation of Mars’ magnetic field interacting with the stellar wind.
 While Earth has a protective global dynamo magnetosphere, Mars a much weaker induced magnetosphere.
 Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVS">

Five years after NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars, data from the mission has led to the creation of a map of electric current systems in the Martian atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a protective global magnetic field to shield its upper atmosphere from the solar wind. Instead, the solar wind crashes into the upper atmosphere and its magnetic field lines drape around the planet. This creates an induced magnetosphere that tugs on charged particles in the Mars upper atmosphere, generating electric currents. Now, MAVEN’s detailed measurements of the magnetic environment surrounding Mars have revealed the shape of these electric currents for the first time.

: Read more Press release

Music credit: “A Lucid Dream” and “Shimmer Oscillations” by James Joshua Otto, via Universal Production Music

Video credit: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVS

Producer:
Dan Gallagher (USRA)

Lead Data Visualizer:
Cindy Starr (GST)

Data Visualizers:
Tom Bridgman (GST)
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)

Videographer:
John Caldwell (AIMM)

Editor:
Dan Gallagher (USRA)

Lead Scientist:
Robin Ramstad (University of Colorado Boulder)

Scientist:
David Brain (University of Colorado Boulder)

Science Writer:
William Steigerwald (NASA/GSFC)

Animators:
Walt Feimer (KBRwyle)
Jonathan North (USRA)
Chris Smith (USRA)
John Blackwell (LPI)

Support:
Tom Mason (LASP)
Bruce Jakosky (LASP)

Technical Support:
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET)

This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from 
 NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio at:

If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel:
 subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel:

 
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
·  Instagram 
 ·  Twitter- NASA GODDARD
 ·  Twitter-NASA GODDARD PICS
 ·  Facebook:
 ·  Flickr

Magnetic filed lines on Mars, left, vs Earth, right. It’s clear which magnetic field protects its planet better. 
Image Credit: Left: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVS. 
Right:  Public Domain, wikipedia

An image from the paper showing the formative current systems in the Martian induced magnetosphere.
 Generator currents are colored blue  while load currents are colored red. 
 Image Credit: Ramstad et al, 2020.

With luck, swarming robots and 3D printed cement-based habitats will play
 a key role in the future development of what so far is only science fiction 
 – an underground city on Mars.

The Moon and Mars will probably be the first places in the Solar System that humanity
 will try to live after leaving the safety and security of Earth.
 But those worlds are still incredibly harsh environments, 
 with no protection from radiation, little to no atmosphere, and extreme temperatures.

Living on those worlds is going to be hard, it’s going to be dangerous. Fortunately,
 there are a few pockets on those worlds that’ll make it a tiny little bit easier
 to get a foothold in the Solar System: lava tubes.
 
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Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com
 /Karla Thompson - @karlaii
 
 Chad Weber -
 
Chloe Cain - Instagram: @chloegwen2001

References:
Possible Lava Tube Skylights Discovered Near the North Pole of the Moon
Down the Lunar Rabbit-hole
Cave Skylights Spotted on Mars
Could Humans Set Up Camp in Martian Lava Tubes?
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20100617-mare-ingenii.htm
Possible Lava Tube Skylights Discovered Near the North Pole of the Moon

m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/The_pit-chains_of_Mars_a_possible_place_for_life

Potential human habitat located on the moon
MISSION DESIGN FOR COMBINED LANDER-ROVER MODELING OF A SKYLIGHT (PDF)  Chrome Browser blocks (??)
Snake robots in space
The bowels of Earth in 3D
Mars Moon Human Colony Lava Tubes

Example of some of the subtractive toolpaths that would be use to hollow out the habitat’s tunnels.
Credit: Bier et al.

Martina Lofqvist from MOMENTUS, speaks about "Swarming Mars" at the virtual Mars City Design Gala 2020

An example of the “rhizome” habitat that would have a relatively small
 exposed area on the surface but provide a large habitable space underground.
Credit: Bier et al.

Artist’s conception of an established Martian colony
Credit – SpaceX

Why live on Earth when you can live on Mars? Well you can't. Mars is a completely hostile environment 
to human life. And yet, if we want to expand into the Solar System, we'll need to live on this planet.
 Here's how we'll do it.

n 2017, Elon Musk laid out his grand sweeping plans for the future of SpaceX, the company 
that would take humanity to Mars. Over decades, tens of thousands of Starship flights would
 carry a million human beings to the surface of the Red Planet, the minimum Musk expects
 it’ll take to create a self-sustaining civilization.

The number of details in an effort like this is mind-boggling. What about the reduced gravity,
 radiation exposure, and space madness? What about return flights?
 Replacement parts? Building materials?

What’s everyone going to eat?


Our Book is out!

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Music: Left Spine Down - “X-Ray”

Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com

Karla Thompson - @karlaii /  Karla Thompson's youtube channel 

Chad Weber - weber.chad@gmail.com
Chloe Cain - Instagram: @chloegwen2001

References:
Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species
Feeding One Million People on Mars
Ground Demonstration of Plant Cultivation Technologies for Safe Food Production in Space
How Does Your Space Garden Grow?
Research Giving Roots and shoots their space
Giving Roots and Shoots Their Space: The Advanced Plant Habitat
Why cricket powder is being served up as a protein alternative

Is Cultured Meat The Answer To The World's Meat Problem?
EAT LIKE A MARTIAN

Extending humanity to other worlds in the Solar System is at the very limits of our modern technology.
 And unless there are dramatic discoveries in new propulsion systems or we learn how to build
 everything out of carbon nanotubes, the future of space exploration is going to require living off the land.

The technique is known as In-Situ Resource Utilization or ISRU, and it means supplying as much 
of your mission from local resources as possible.

And many of our future exploration destinations, like Mars, have a lot to work with.
 Let’s look at the raw materials on Mars that missions can use to live off the land 
 and the techniques and technologies that will need to be developed to make this possible.
 
 Our Book is out!
 
 Audio Podcast versions:
 ITunes:

 RSS:
 :
Universetoday's youtube channel

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Support us at:Support us at:
 
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Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com
Karla Thompson - @karlaii
 
 Chad Weber -
 
Chloe Cain - Instagram: @chloegwen2001

Music: Left Spine Down - “X-Ray”

Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com

Karla Thompson - @karlaii /  Karla Thompson's youtube channel 

Chad Weber - weber.chad@gmail.com
Chloe Cain - Instagram: @chloegwen2001

References:
Frontier In-Situ Resource Utilization for Enabling Sustained Human Presence on Mars

The Promise of Mars, by Robert Zubrin

Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice

Gypsum, bassanite, and anhydrite at Gale crater, Mars  (PDF)  

Jarosite in the Noctis Labyrinthus Region of Mars

Nature Geoscience

Perchlorate on Mars: A chemical hazard and a resource for humans

Curiosity Finds Evidence of Mars Crust Contributing to Atmosphere

Boron, Sodium and Chlorine in Mineral Vein 'Diyogha'

NASA Rover Findings Point to a More Earth-like Martian Past

Viking 1 & 2
.
Curiosity Finds Iron Meteorite on Mars

valuation of Mars CO2 Capture and Gas Separation Technologies

Methane promising route for storage of renewable energy from sun and wind

Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization Based on the Reverse Water Gas Shift: Experiments and Mission Applications

Ethylene Uses and Market Data

Using Bacteria to Build a Base on Mars

Made In Space Wins NASA Contract To Develop Hybrid Metal Manufacturing System For Space Exploration

What Will It Take To Feed A Million People On Mars?

Direct Formation of Structural Components Using a Martian Soil Simulant

A Review of Extra-Terrestrial Regolith 
Excavation Concepts and Prototypes  pdf   blocked by chrome 

Latest Updates from NASA on 3D-Printed Habitat Competition

Artist’s concept for a possible colony on Mars.
Credit: Ville Ericsson

Illustration of a photobioreactor as part of a biological life support
 system for a Mars habitat.
 Credit: Joris Wegner/ZARM/Universität Bremen

More than 10 scientific research groups are located at ZARM,
 the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity in Bremen.
 Cyprien Verseux is heading the ZARM laboratory of applied space microbiology.
 The LASM was created, primarily, to develop microbe-based technologies 
 in support of future crewed outposts beyond Earth. The star in his research 
 is a microbe called cyanobacteria. Find out why this microbe,
 particular a strain called Anabaena sp.
 PCC 7938 is so interesting to Cyprien and his team.

Recent Publication

More Information: 
MARS DUST AS A BASIS FOR LIFE? NO PROBLEM FOR CERTAIN BACTERIA

LABORATORY OF APPLIED SPACE MICROBIOLOGY

ZARM - CENTER OF APPLIED SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND MICROGRAVITY 
 Homepage:
 
 Twitter:
 
 ZARM on LinkedIn:

Sources:
 Erlenmeyer flask:

Cultivation of duckweed using Anabaena sp. PCC 7938 in comparison to
 high-purity water (ddH2O) and a standard nutrient solution (Hoagland).
 Credit: Guillaume Chopin/ZARM/Universität Bremen

Artist’s impression of a Mars habitat in conjunction
 with other surface elements on Mars.
 Credit: NASA

"The revolutionary breakthrough will come with rockets that are fully and rapidly reusable.
 We will never conquer Mars unless we do that. It'll be too expensive. The American colonies
 would never have been pioneered if the ships that crossed the ocean hadn't been reusable."
Elon Musk
"An asteroid or a supervolcano could certainly destroy us, but we also face risks the dinosaurs never saw:
 An engineered virus, nuclear war, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, or some as-yet-unknown technology
 could spell the end of us." 
Elon Musk
"Mars is the only place in the solar system where it's possible for life to become multi-planetarian". 
Elon Musk
"Boeing just took $20 billion and 10 years to improve the efficiency of their planes by 10 percent.
 That's pretty lame. I have a design in mind for a vertical liftoff supersonic jet that would be a really big improvement." 
Elon Musk
"The revolutionary breakthrough will come with rockets that are fully and rapidly reusable.
 We will never conquer Mars unless we do that. It'll be too expensive. The American colonies
 would never have been pioneered if the ships that crossed the ocean hadn't been reusable."
Elon Musk

Want to go to Mars? Great! Now, all you need to do is plan a mission.
 Figure out where to land, what to bring, and how you’re going to live there 
 in the months (or years) between favorable return windows.
 All this will be determined by the availability of crucial resources you’ll need to survive.

Mars SWIM Project ice consistency results from a depth range of 1-5 m.
 Map of ice consistency across the study area; blue areas indicate the presence of ice,
 and red areas contain no ice. A map like this is crucial for planning a landing site with access to water.
 Courtesy NASA.

Artist’s impression of astronauts exploring the surface of Mars.
 Credit: NASA/JSC/Pat Rawlings, SAIC

An artist’s conception shows a SpaceX rocket lifting off from Mars.
 (SpaceX Illustration)

ISRU system concept for autonomous construction on Mars.
 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is not your typical NASA program. From deep space human exploration 
to advanced propulsion and robotics, the NIAC program aims to change the possible by supporting early stage 
space technology research that could radically change the future. 
  see To find out more about this exciting NASA program,and to learn how to apply,

This video represents research studies within the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program. 
NIAC is a visionary and far-reaching aerospace program, one that has the potential to create breakthrough technologies
 for possible future space missions. However, such early stage technology developments may never become actual NASA missions.

Artists’ impression of robots assembling the Sprout concept using lego-like bricks.
 Credit: Mars City Design/Giuseppe Calabrese

Self-healing of a bio-encapsulated concrete specimen during a period of 3 weeks.
 Credit: Jakhrani et al. (2019)

llustration of a photobioreactor that could grow food and building materials on Mars.
 Credit: Joris Wegner/ZARM/Universität Bremen

Illustration of a photobioreactor as part of a biological life support
 system for a Mars habitat.
 Credit: Joris Wegner/ZARM/Universität Bremen

At the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center,
 a lunar greenhouse chamber is equipped as a prototype bioregenerative 
 life support system.
 Credit: University of Arizona

The space station’s Veggie Facility, tended by NASA astronaut Scott Tingle.
 Credits: NASA

Artist’s impression of the chloroplasts in plant cells converting sunlight to energy,
 emitting fluorescence in the process.
 Credit: NASA Goddard’s Conceptual Image Lab/T. Chase

How an interplanetary internet might work.
 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

How to send cat pictures to Mars.
 Credit: Pfandzelter, et al

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Information on Can a New Type of Glacier on Mars Aid Future Astronauts?

information on Evidence for widespread glaciation in Arcadia Planitia, Mars

The new map is based on data from two long-running spacecraft: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.
 Each spacecraft used heat-sensitive instruments to find the ice, because buried ice changes the temperature 
 of the surface. To be sure that it was ice they were seeing, the scientists cross-referenced their work with other data
 — like ice seen in radar instruments and Mars Odyssey's gamma-ray spectrometer, which is optimized for spotting
 water ice deposits.

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