What life could we find in the underground Martian lake?

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" We are talking about microbial life, " Paul Niles, Ph.D., a planetary geologist and analytical geochemist at NASA's Johnson Space Center, tells Inverse .Niles did not participate in this recent discovery, but in December 2017, he co-wrote a document in which he and his fellow scientists argued that the best chance of finding life on Mars is below the surface. And well, this latest discovery by the Mars Express spacecraft has just added a large amount of evidence to the Niles team's argument.But again, he points out that we do not speak of an underground city under the surface of the red planet. data-reactid = "19" > "We talk about microbial life", Paul Niles, Ph.D., global geologist and analytical geochemist at NASA's Johnson Space Center, raco Inverse . Niles was not involved in this most recent discovery, but in December 2017 he co-wrote an article in which he and his fellow scientists argued that the best chance of finding life on Mars is under the surface. Well, this latest discovery by the Mars Express spacecraft has just added a big pile of evidence to the argument of the Niles team. But still, he points out that we are not talking about some kind of underground city under the surface of the red planet.

"We are not in a position where we will have something more complex, think," he says. "Microbial life or evidence of past microbial life is what we are looking for."

According to the team behind the new discoveries of Mars, the radar penetrating the soil clearly shows that there is a large volume of water near Planum Austral, a plain at the South Pole of March. Based on the previous discoveries of perchlorate salts in Martian soil, it goes without saying that this water could very well be in a liquid state, since the salts lower the freezing point of water.

Niles points out that life could survive water greatly depends on how salty it is. And to find out, we would probably need to know the temperature of the water.

"The reason the temperature is important is that it can tell us how much water has to be salted," he says. . "If it's too salty, the possibility of finding life is greatly reduced." He says it's hard to say how salt is salty, but if we use the Earth as an indication, our oceans are at the upper limit of salinity While the latest discovery of Mars suggests the presence of salt water, Niles says that there is a possibility that this could mean that there is fresh water elsewhere, especially if there are other groundwater. tanks in other parts of the planet where it's warmer – like areas near geothermal activity.

"If you have liquid water, it will sink and if you have body of magma in the crust, what can happen is that the water boils, the steam rises in the higher levels of the crust, the vapor condenses and now you have fresh water. "" You end up with the opportunity to form a range of environments when you have heat and of liquid water. "And not only would freshwater support a microbial life, but it could also support human settlers on Mars.

<p class =" web-atom canvas-text Mb ( 1.0em) Mo (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm "type =" text "content =" Of course, all this is highly But scientists will soon have more opportunities to explore the surface Martian, and perhaps even the subsurface, to find out how wrong we are: the March InSight lander that was launched in May and the March 2020 rover will pick up in the case of the latter, the landing site is still the subject of debate and scientists will meet this fall to make their case. " data-reactid = "26"> Of course, all this highly speculative. But scientists will soon have more opportunities to explore the Martian surface, and perhaps even the subsurface, to find out what is right or wrong: the March InSight lander launched in May and the rover March 2020 will resume where past missions have stopped. In the case of the latter, the landing site is still the subject of debate and scientists will meet this fall to argue their case