Mid-Latitude Subsurface Ice

Mars Odyssey's Gamma Ray Spectrometer discovered widespread hydrogen signatures in the top meter of Martian soil at latitudes above 60°, later confirmed as water ice by Phoenix lander (confirmed H2O ice at 5 cm depth in 2008). MRO's SHARAD radar has mapped massive buried glaciers at mid-latitudes — some hundreds of meters thick. These subsurface glaciers are a major ISRU resource target for future crewed missions.

Primary water source for crewed surface habitats; mining with heated drill could extract several liters/hour per site