Main image via BBC
A lake of water has been detected below polar caps on Mars, according to a new study published in a scientific journal. Researchers from the Italian Space Agency used the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) on its Mars Express spacecraft to collect radar profiles showing the presence of water beneath the planet’s surface.
Image via Gulf News
The presence of liquid has long been suspected but has never been shown, according to the study. This finding now raises questions about the planet’s geology—and its potential for harbouring life.
Analysis of subglacial lakes on Mars resembles the ones found on planet Earth like the underground lakes that lie beneath the Antarctic and Greenland.
29 scans were taken between May 2012 and December 2015, enabling researchers to determine that there’s likely a 20km wide body of water under the ice of Mars’ South Polar Layered Deposits. Estimates show that the lake is at least 1m deep.
The researchers also presume that there are more of these underground lakes scattered throughout the planet that has yet to be discovered. This is so because Mars has most likely cooled since its formation, “leaving most of its water locked up in ice”. But if water on Mars is subsurface, that may actually turn out to be a good thing for potential life on planet.
Organisms potentially living in subsurface environments would be protected from radiation, and would also be living in “more favourable levels” of atmospheric pressure and temperatures.
With this new discovery, comes the question—could Mars really be the next planet we call home?
Info via Bustle
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