NASA finds frozen water on Mars

NASA scientists said the spacecraft's observations were obtained from orbit after meteorites excavated fresh craters on the Red Planet. Scientists controlling instruments on the orbiter found bright ice exposed at five new craters that range in depth from about 1.5 feet to 8 feet.

NASA said some craters show a thin layer of bright ice atop darker
underlying material. The bright patches darkened in the weeks following initial observations, as the freshly exposed ice vaporized into the thin martian atmosphere, the researchers said.

One of the new craters had a bright patch of material large enough for one of the orbiter's instruments to confirm it was water-ice.

"The finds indicate water-ice occurs beneath Mars's surface halfway between the north pole and the equator, a lower latitude than expected in the martian climate," said Shane Bryne of the University of Arizona, a member of the team that captured the images. Byrne said the ice is a relic of a more humid climate that existed several thousand years ago.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.