Scientists May Have Identify Promising Landing Site On Mars

The presence of ice could also help scientists search for signs of life, as it can preserve biomarkers of past life.

28 Dec 2025, 13:30 · www.ndtv.com

Many experts have envisioned people living on Mars by building a self-sustaining city, but it isn't certain until it happens. However, researchers might have identified a potential landing site on the Red Planet that could support future human missions, as per Science Daily. The name of the site is Amazonis Planitia, which is located in the mid-latitude region. This area offers a unique combination of accessibility, solar power and water ice.

Amazonis Planitias' mid-latitude location balances sunlight and temperature, preserving ice near the surface. This makes it an ideal spot for in-situ resource utilisation, reducing reliance on Earth-based supplies.

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As per Erica Luzzi, who is a planetary geologist and postdoctoral researcher with the Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, shallow ice deposits, which are less than a meter below the surface, can provide drinking water, oxygen, and fuel. The region also has sufficient sunlight for power generation. Also, the region would allow a safe landing as it is relatively flat terrain with minimal obstacles.

"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," Luzzi said. "That makes them ideal for future landing sites."

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"For the moon, it would take us one week, more or less, to go back and forth to Earth for resupply," Giacomo Nodjoumi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Space Science Data Center of the Italian Space Agency and a co-author of the study, said as quoted in the report. "But for Mars, it would take months. So, we have to be prepared for not having resupply from Earth for extended periods of time."

"The most important resources are oxygen to breathe and water to drink. That's what makes our candidate landing site really promising."

According to Luzzi, the presence of ice could also help scientists search for signs of life, as it can preserve biomarkers of past life.

As we know it, life on the Red Planet isn't confirmed; however, scientists have found many signs pointing to ancient, potentially habitable conditions. To probe it further, space agencies are have been planning many Mars missions, including advancing technologies to send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s.

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