A northern plain sitting on buried sheets of nearly pure ice.
Arcadia Planitia is a northern plain famous for the massive subsurface ice sheets detected just beneath its surface. Combined with smooth, low terrain, that shallow ice makes it one of the most discussed future colony and water-source sites on Mars.
Claim your plot here →Radar and impact-crater studies show that Arcadia Planitia conceals broad sheets of near-pure water ice lying just a meter or two beneath the surface across large areas. That accessibility is extraordinary: a settlement here could reach abundant water without deep drilling, using it for drinking, agriculture, and even rocket propellant.
The plain is also flat and geologically young, resurfaced by lava and sediment, which eases landing and construction. The pairing of shallow ice and benign terrain is exactly why Arcadia consistently ranks among the leading candidate regions in human-mission planning.