With crewed missions to the Red Planet becoming a realistic possibility for the 2030s, researchers have begun the search for an ideal Mars landing site, and one University of Mississippi geologist believes she has found the perfect spot.
Even without setting foot on Mars, humans have sent landers and orbiters to collect a great deal of data about the Red Planet. Erica Luzzi, a postdoctoral researcher in the Mississippi Mineral Records Institute, led a team as they combed through that information with an eye towards one crucial resource: water.
Making a Splash on Mars
“If we’re going to send humans to Mars, you need H2O and not just for drinking, but for propellant and all manner of applications,” Luzzi said. “And finding it close to the surface is helpful because we can easily extract it and use it. This is called in situ resource utilization, and it’s an important practice for any space exploration.”
Luzzi’s work uncovered indications of possible water ice close to the Martian surface, potentially providing a local source. The team’s analysis utilized high-resolution orbital imagery taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The observations focused on Mars’ Amazonis Planitia region, providing clues to ice that may be located less than one meter underground. Situated in the planet’s middle latitudes, the area is under consideration as the initial landing site for humans.
“The mid-latitudes offer the perfect compromise – they get enough sunlight for power, but they’re still cold enough to preserve ice near the surface,” Luzzi said. “That makes them ideal for future landing sites.”
Since 2006, HiRISE has been observing the Red Planet, nestled into the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The instrument’s resolution is so great that it has even photographed small vehicles on the surface, such as the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers, as well as the Phoenix lander’s descent. The instrument is still in use, and the public can even suggest future imaging targets at the project’s website.
Local Mission Support for a Mars Landing
With the massive distance involved, finding any local resources would be a huge boon to a crewed Mars mission. Upon reaching a prospective Mars landing site, astronauts would be able to convert water ice into essential oxygen, liquid water, and even fuel to power their mission.
“For the moon, it would take us one week, more or less, to go back and forth to Earth for resupply,” said co-author Giacomo Nodjoumi, postdoctoral researcher at the Space Science Data Center of the Italian Space Agency. “But for Mars, it would take months. So, we have to be prepared for not having resupply from Earth for extended periods of time.”
“The most important resources are oxygen to breathe and water to drink. That’s what makes our candidate landing site really promising,” Nodjoumi added.
Searching for Water on Mars
While imagery analysis can provide a great deal of information to scientists from a whole planet away, physical samples will be necessary if future missions are to rely on the potential ice. Either humans themselves or rovers will have to travel to Amazonis Planitia to investigate the ice and determine its purity.
“The next step would be radar analyses to better understand the depth and patchiness of the ice,” Luzzi said. “The lag deposit, material on top of the ice, might vary, which affects whether the ice is preserved. Understanding that will help us decide where a robotic precursor should land.”
“We will never be sure of something if we don’t have a rover, a lander or a human to take real measurements,” Nodjoumi said. “We have strong evidence to suggest that this is water ice, but until we go there and measure it, we won’t be 100% sure.”
In addition to sustaining human life in the present, the team also suggests that investigating the ice may yield new clues regarding the open question of Martian habitability.
“This also has astrobiological implications,” Luzzi said. “On Earth, ice can preserve biomarkers of past life, and it can also host microbial populations. So, it could tell us if Mars was ever habitable.”
The paper “Geomorphological Evidence of Near-Surface Ice at Candidate Landing Sites in Northern Amazonis Planitia, Mars” appeared on May 03, 2025, in Journal of Geophysical Research Planets.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.