The material on the floor of this crater appears to have flowed like ice, and contains pits that might result from sublimation of subsurface ice. The surface is entirely dust-covered today. There probably was ice here sometime in the past, but could it persist at some depth?

This crater is at latitude 26 degrees north, and near-surface ice at this latitude (rather than further toward one of the poles) could be a valuable resource for future human exploration. A future orbiter with a special kind of radar instrument could answer the question of whether or not there is shallow ice at low latitudes on Mars.

ID: ESP_049028_2065
date: 10 January 2017
altitude: 287 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_049028_2065
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
#Mars #science #NASA