NASA's THOR mission may blast an enormous crater on Mars to search for water ice in latitudes that could support life on the red planet.
Intriguing gully- and glacier-like features, spotted by telescopes and orbiting spacecraft, suggest there may be a large body of frozen water beneath the planet's dusty surface.
The proposed mission aims to break new ground in search of the truth.
"The time has come to take Martian studies a step further—and deeper," said principal investigator Phil Christensen of Arizona State University's Mars Space Flight Facility.
"At the moment, the deepest we've dug on Mars is probably a foot [30 centimeters]," he continued.
"A lot of people, myself included, believe that the upper surface may be dry and desiccated, bombarded with ultraviolet rays, and that the interesting stuff may not start until you're down a meter or two [three to seven feet]."
THOR's Hammer
The THOR plan is part of NASA's Mars Scout program, which funds outside projects that complement the space agency's ongoing Mars Exploration Program based at JPL.
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