image: Portion of a large rock-covered flow feature in the eastern Hellas region of Mars. Recent measurements from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter SHARAD radar sounder have detected large amounts of water ice in this deposit, arguing for the flow of glacial-like structures on Mars in the relatively recent geologic past. This suggests that snow and ice accumulated on the slope face and flowed over the neighboring plains and is now protected from sublimation by a layer of rock debris and dust. Dashed line shows path of spacecraft and inset shows resulting radar reflections. Over the glacier, there are two reflections: one from the sloping surface and one from the subsurface below the ice. Image is 20 km (12.8 mi.) by 50 km (32 mi.). From the Context Camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Nov. 21, 2008, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. John Holt and colleagues at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, was titled "Radar Sounding Evidence for Buried Glacier in the Southern Mid-Latitudes of Mars." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems