...oh yeah and to add to my other post - Just where the hell will the astronaut get 9 months of air?? We inhale 11,000 liters of air per day or 2,906 gallons. What machine can produce that much recyclable O2?? Think about that: It would have to separate O2 from CO2 at a rate of 458 liters per hour or 121 gallons. If that was possible we wouldn’t need gasoline anymore, just produce hydrogen from water if they can separate molecules so effectively like that.
Melting of the permafrost that exists at all latitudes on Mars. Subsurface ice probably is abundant.