Icy craters on Mars: Check out this image by NASA's HiRISE camera

Since 2006, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and the Context Camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have catalogued hundreds of new impact craters on the Red Planet.

Some of these recent craters, particularly in the mid-to-high-latitudes region of Mars, have excavated buried water ice that typically is exposed within the crater cavity. There are instances when these patchy icy deposits and meter-sized blocks of ice are thrown out of the crater and form part of the ejecta. The above image shows one such crater in Arcadia Planitia where ice was exposed both in the crater interior and ejecta.

Accompanying this 13-meter (43 feet) crater is a dark blast zone that stretches almost 850 meters (half a mile) from the center, indicating the force of the impact that unearthed the ice. Subsequent observations provide details about sublimation rates of these ice exposures at a given location over time, providing key insights for understanding near-surface ice-stability and the present-day climate on Mars.

The exposed ice deposits allow scientists to analyze the purity, quantity, and depth of the buried ice, which, in turn, sheds light on the environmental conditions at the time the ice was deposited.

HiPOD: Mars Mysteries: Unveiling the Icy CratersOver the past two decades, HiRISE has catalogued hundreds of new impact craters. Some of these craters have excavated buried water-ice that typically is exposed within the crater cavity.https://t.co/zkMIsH15xTNASA/JPL/UArizona pic.twitter.com/tlEo6N1oiy

— HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) March 18, 2024