Massive Water Ice Deposit Discovered at Mars's Equator

The European Space Agency's Mars Express mission reveals a water ice deposit extending up to 3.7 kilometers underground, the largest ever found near the Martian equator.

ESA's Mars Express mission has discovered a large deposit of water ice, the largest ever found near Mars's equator, buried beneath the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF).
The ice deposit extends up to 3.7 kilometers underground and is covered by a crust of hardened ash and dry dust hundreds of meters thick.
If melted, the ice locked up in the MFF would cover the entire planet in a layer of water 1.5 to 2.7 meters deep, the most water ever found in this part of Mars.
The presence of such a large amount of ice near the equator suggests that Mars's climate was very different in the past.
Despite its potential value for future human missions to Mars, the ice deposit is currently inaccessible due to the thick layer of dust covering it.