For years, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — a spacecraft circling the Red Planet — has seen white material lining dry gullies thought to be dusty water ice. This environment in the Martian tropics could be mottled with small pockets of meltwater, similar to features found within glaciers on Earth.

A recent study by NASA has found small patches on Mars that could harbor life. These areas are thought to be capable of converting sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis.