Giant glaciers buried under the surface of Mars at much lower latitudes than any previously known ice are a potential source of drinking water for future astronauts.

The discovery, made using ground-penetrating radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, offers new possibilities in the search for life on the red planet.

"If there is life on Mars, this kind of ice would likely preserve ancient organisms and DNA," researcher Jim Head, a planetary geoscientist at Brown University, told Wired.com. "Examining the water ice could give you a good sample to try to detect if there had been life there."

Originally posted by centurion1211
If you haven't read the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, check this out:

Trilogy Info

Psychrophiles are microorganisms that live and grow better in temperatures that are about -10 to 20°C (14 to 68°F). Psychrophiles are found mostly in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans which remains frozen most of the year. The food that is needed by psychrophiles is inside the frozen glaciers and seawater, but flows in tiny streams in between cracks and layers of ice. Psychrophiles enter the milk products through the soil, water, animals and plant material where the animals are raised. When the cow eats the grass, walks in the pasture, or drinks the water, these microorganisms enter its body and is released into the milk glands. This contaminates the milk.