An underground lake of water was found on Mars

July 26, 2018 – 11:10
Located under a layer of Martian ice, the lake is about 20 kilometers wide, said the report published in the Science Journal and led by Italian researchers.

A huge underground lake was detected for the first time on Mars, increasing the possibility of more water and possibly even life, international astronomers said yesterday.

Located under a layer of Martian ice, the According to the report published in the journal Science and led by Italian researchers, the lake has a width of about 20 kilometers

It is the largest liquid water plan that was found on the red planet.

"This is an amazing result that suggests that water on Mars is not a temporary current, as revealed in previous discoveries, but a persistent body of water that creates the conditions for life for long periods of time, "said Alan Duffy, badociate professor at the University of Swinburne, Australia, who did not participate in the study.

Mars is now cold, arid and desert, but it was hot and humid and was home to a lot of liquid water and at least 3,600 million years ago

Scientists are eager to find signs of running water, as such discoveries are essential to discover the mystery of life on Mars in its ancient past or persistence today.

Having the ability to access water sources could also help humans survive in a future inhabited mission to this planet next to Earth.

The water in this particular lake, however, would not be potable and is located about 1.5 km deep from the icy surface in a hostile and icy environment.

If microbial life forms are there, it is a subject of debate.

Some experts are skeptical about this possibility because the lake is cold and brackish, and contains a high dose of dissolved Martian salts and minerals.

The temperature is probably lower than the freezing point of pure water, but may remain liquid due to the presence of magnesium, calcium and sodium.

"This discovery is of extraordinary importance and will increase speculation about the presence of living organisms on the red planet," said Fred Watson of the Australian Astronomical Observatory.

"However, caution should be exercised, since the concentration of salts needed to maintain liquid water could be fatal to any microbial life similar to that of the Earth," added Watson, who said: was not involved in the research.

The discovery was made using radar instruments from the Mars Express spacecraft of the European Space Agency (AEA), launched in 2003.

The tool is called Advanced Radar for Aeronautics. Ionosphere and subsurface study of Mars (Marsis) and was designed to find groundwater by sending radar pulses that penetrate the surface and ice caps.

Marsis "measures the propagation of radio waves and how they are reflected on the ship," said the study.These reflections "provide scientists with information about what lies beneath the surface."

The lead author, Roberto Orosei, of the National Institute of Astrophysics of Bologna, Italy, surveyed an area called Planum Austral, located in the south of the icy March, May 2012 to December 2015.

A total of 29 series of radar samplings revealed a "very abrupt change in the badociated radar signal", allowing scientists to map the contours of the

"The radar profile of this Zone is similar to that of the liquid water lakes that lie beneath the Antarctic ice caps and Greenland on Earth, suggesting that there is a subglacial lake in this region. "It's the first mbad of water detected, so it's very exciting," David Stillman, a researcher at Southwest Rese's Department of Space Studies, told AFP. However, Stillman, who did not participate in the research, said that it was necessary for another probe or instruments to confirm the finding.

that a higher frequency radar instrument manufactured by the Italian Space Agency, Sharad, aboard the Mars Reconnaissance probe launched in 2005, could not detect groundwater.

"It is strange that the Sharad can not confirm this discovery In fact, the Sharad can not cross the ice here and nobody understands why," Stillman added. "This suggests that there is going to be some odd thing here, so I'm skeptical about this discovery. "

But researchers are excited about the potential for future discoveries, because if liquid water can be found at the pole south of Mars, it could also be found elsewhere.