All hail our Martian overlords!

A spacecraft orbiting Mars has scanned huge deposits of water ice at its south pole so plentiful they would blanket the planet in 36 feet of water if they were liquid, scientists said on Thursday.

The scientists used a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency radar instrument on the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft to gauge the thickness and volume of ice deposits at the Martian south pole covering an area larger than Texas.

The deposits, up to 2.3 miles thick, are under a polar cap of white frozen carbon dioxide and water, and appear to be composed of at least 90 percent frozen water, with dust mixed in, according to findings published in the journal Science.

What does this mean exactly? Well, water has long been thought to be a necessary pre-requisite for life (carbon based life at any rate). The potential existence of water on mars, be it on the surface some time ago, or sub-terranian currently, could very well point to alien life. Spiffy stuff!