RED PLANET ICE

It’s a figure skater’s dream — miles of empty ice that won’t ever melt.

The only problem is it’s located about 34 million miles from Earth.

The Korolev crater in the northern lowlands of Mars has been photographed by the European Space Agency’s space exploration mission Mars Express.

The crater, named after spacecraft designer Sergei Korolev, looks like it’s filled with snow — but it’s all ice and 51 miles wide.

Five photos were taken by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera and combined to create a single image.

Each photo was taken over a different orbit.

The reason the miledeep crater is always icy is due to a cold trap.

“The very deepest parts of Korolev crater, those containing ice, act as a natural cold trap: the air moving over the deposit of ice cools down and sinks, creating a layer of cold air that sits directly above the ice itself,” the ESA explained.

The photos are considered a milestone for Mars Express, which has been circling the red planet for 15 years.

Mars Express launched in June 2003 and took six months to get to its destination.