Abstract Martian debris‐covered glaciers (DCGs) contain large quantities of water ice beneath a protective layer of rock and dust. Properties of the overlying regolith such as density and depth to ice are critical parameters for guiding in situ resource utilization (ISRU) of water and coring missions targeting potential habitats. Englacial debris layers that progressively outcrop at the surface could also provide access to enable shallow sampling of ice age sequences. To assess the capabilities of future drone‐based ground‐penetrating radar for detecting supraglacial debris thickness and near‐surface stratigraphy—properties not resolvable from orbit with the Shallow Radar sounder—we conducted tests over two terrestrial analogs for Martian DCGs. Our platform consists of a DJI Matrice 600 Pro drone and a MALA Geodrone radar operating at a center frequency of 80 MHz. We detected a bulk glacier thickness of up to 28.5 m in Sourdough rock glacier (RG), Alaska, and 48.6 m in Galena Creek RG, Wyoming. We also resolved the supraglacial debris thickness, with a mean thickness of 1.5 m in Sourdough, and in Galena Creek, with a mean thickness of 0.8 m in extensional sections and 1.3 m in compressional sections. Furthermore, we detected layers outcropping at the surface in age sequences within the cirque of Galena Creek RG. We validated the internal reflectors with clutter simulations to discriminate genuine subsurface reflectors from off‐nadir surface reflection “clutter.” Finally, we provide recommendations for optimal survey design, including solutions to increase the signal‐to‐noise ratio and reduce clutter.
Aguilar et al. (Sun,) studied this question.