All you need to know about the lake on Mars

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Italian scientists yesterday announced the discovery of an underground lake of liquid water, during a conference at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. According to the group of specialists, discovery increases the probability of life on the red planet

Where?
The 20-kilometer-wide lake hidden under the ice of the south pole of Mars, located at a region called Planum Austral

How is it located?
Thanks to the Mars Express spacecraft's radar instruments from the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2003. The tool known as Advanced Radar for the L & F's investigation The Mars ionosphere and subsurface (MARSIS) have been designed to find groundwater by sending radar pulses that penetrate the surface and layers of ice.

lago_marte_infografia.jpg "src =" http://www.eluniversal.com. mx / sites / default / files / u35291 / lago_marte_infografia.jpg "style =" width: 441px; height: 272px; "/> </p> <p><strong> How was the process? </strong><br /> From 2012 to 2015, the Mars Express flew over a 200-mile Zone of Austral Planum, where temperatures are reaching temperatures of 120 degrees below The researchers obtained 29 sets of radar samples, which mapped an area that showed a very pronounced change 1.5 kilometers below the surface of the ice.The profile that the radar drew was very similar to that of the great lakes of liquid water found under Antarctica and Greenland on Earth. </p> <p><strong> What did the scientists responsible for the discovery? </strong><br /> Roberto Orosei, project manager and responsible The scientist MARSIS explained that "the echoes from this area were stronger than the surface echoes and this circumstance only appeared when subglacial water was observed as in Antarctica. "</p> <p> .It is salt water, since this is what would allow, with the pressure of the icecap, that the subterranean lake remains liquid despite a temperature between -30 and 70 degrees Celsius, as it is the case on Earth. "It is very difficult to know the depth of the lake because the water absorbs the radar signals, we only see its surface, but at least we are talking about a depth of one meter," he said. explained Orosei </p> <p>. a reserve produced by melting ice that concentrates in a ground depression and calculates that it contains hundreds of millions of cubic meters of liquid water. </p> <p><strong> What does the scientific community think? Will there be life on Mars? </strong><br /> For Alberto González Fairén, a researcher at the Center for Astrobiology of Madrid, it is "the scientific discovery of the year and the discovery makes it very possible to live on Mars." </p> <p> This research – published by Nature – and with the discovery of organic compounds that Curiosity made a month ago, he says, "now we know that Mars has the basic ingredients of all living things: the first one," he says. liquid water and organic compounds ". </p> <p> "This is an extraordinarily important discovery, which will increase speculation about the presence of living organisms on the red planet," said Fred Watson of the & # 39; 39 Australian Astronomical Observatory </p> <p> "the concentration of salts needed to maintain liquid water could be fatal to any microbial life similar to that of the Earth," added Watson </p> <p> ld </p> </div> </pre> </pre> [ad_2] <br /><a href=Source link

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