Ice frozen under Mars’ surface offers major resource to aid future settlements
Frozen water is hiding beneath the dust-covered surface of Mars, and scientist Ali Bramson wants to find it. She sees a chance to both sustain future human explorers and answer questions about the red planet’s climate.
Bramson, a Purdue University assistant professor of planetary science, was part of recent research to determine the location and depth of the subsurface ice. The results of the NASA Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) project were published in Nature Astronomy.
Her work in SWIM focused on radar subsurface discovery and mapping of ice deposits in Mars’ northern hemisphere. Another SWIM project Bramson participated in, completed in December, examined the southern hemisphere.