Will humans ever make it to Mars? That's still debatable, though efforts to reach the Red Planet are certainly underway. And if men and women do one day walk on Mars, scientists have found the perfect location for a colony. 

One of the biggest challenges of sending humans to the Red Planet is ensuring that astronauts can survive the harsh environment. And tied directly to that is the challenge of securing a reliable water source, a critical need for drinking, breathing, growing food, and even producing fuel. For any future human settlement on Mars, astronauts will need far more than just a few bottles to get by. It’s needed not only for basic survival, but also for activities like growing food and producing rocket fuel for the journey home. Bringing all the required water from Earth would be astronomically expensive and practically impossible! 

Now, a recent discovery has given mission planners hope. A team of scientists, led by University of Mississippi planetary geologist Erica Luzzi, has identified a promising site on Mars where shallow ice lies just beneath the surface.

Luzzi and her team have zeroed in on Amazonis Planitia, a broad volcanic plain that sits in Mars’ mid-latitudes. Thanks to ultra-sharp images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the team was able to spot critical features like bright-rimmed craters, polygonal fracture patterns, and subtle surface undulations, all indicative of ground ice. This ice is believed to lie less than a meter beneath the surface, making it shallow enough for future astronauts or robotic drills to access.

What makes this location especially appealing is its perfect compromise between sunlight and temperature. As Luzzi explains, “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.”

So, if humans do live on the planet in the future, they can raise a glass filled with ice and drink cold water thanks to Luzzi.