The water found on Mars: Everything you wanted to know but who was afraid to ask

You and I may think that water is boring, but for scientists seeking life on Mars, it's the holy grail.

And so this week, when Italian researchers announced had found evidence that a lake full of water exists on Mars, a ripple, a wave – a flood of excitement swept away the scientists around the world.

To understand the problem, ABC News met with Michel Meyer, principal investigator of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, and Richard Zurek, chief scientist of the Mars Program Office's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The NASA. Here is what they told us.

So what's the talk of all the noise?

It's about life on Mars – or at least the possibility of doing it.

ESA / NASA

For decades, scientists have searched for any sign of water on the planet. The Mars program of NASA even has a slogan: "Follow the water". That's because it's the only way to know if life could exist.

"It's one of the universal ingredients required for life on Earth," Meyer said. "And when we find one of the few places on this planet where there is no water, we do not find life."

That's why finding evidence on Mars opens up a world of possibilities.

"That tells us at least that we are on the right track to find life," Meyer said.

Wait a minute, did not I read somewhere that we already found water on Mars?

No, what you have read is evidence that water existed and could exist there.

There were dark trails that may or have not been left by flowing water. 3.5 billion years ago, the crater had a large lake of fresh water. And there was the thick layer of ice found underground with enough volume to fill Lake Superior.

NASA

But this time, scientists have been able to find the existence of liquid water not in the past, not in some theory, but now .

So what kind of lake is that? Another top lake?

Sort by. If Lake Superior was salty, it extended 12 miles wide and was buried under ice about a mile thick.

But have not I learned in sixth grade physics that it is too cold on Mars for water to remain liquid?

Yes, indeed, says Zurek, the temperature at Mars can drop to more than 240 degrees Fahrenheit below freezing, far, far below the freezing point of the water – at l? pure state.

But scientists think that the lake's water might contain dissolved salts.

"If you put salts in the water, then you can reduce the freezing point," Zurek said.

"And if it's a particular salt called perchlorate, you can sink it 50 to 60 degrees, and we know that these salts exist on the surface of Mars."

Where it is buried under a mile of ice, how did they even find it?

Fun fact: The water reflects radar signals much more strongly than rocks and sediments.

NASA / AFP / Getty Images [19659010] On December 9, 2013, NASA's photo is a mosaic of NASA Mars Curiosity rover images and shows a series of sedimentary deposits in the Glenelg area of Gale Crater.

A few years ago, Italian scientists analyzed radar. The signals collected for three years by the Mars Express satellite of the European Space Agency using its radar sounder, MARSIS, caught their attention – brilliant reflections in radar signals that seemed to have been made by l & # 39; water.

They spent at least two years looking at the data to make sure they had found water, not ice or any other substance. But there came a time when they had to conclude that water was the best explanation.

Is this a definitive proof?

Not at all, says Zurek.

Many things about this hypothesis still baffle scientists – why bright spots are not more prevalent, for example.

That's why, more research needs to be done to verify these results, Meyer said. And scientists, including those from NASA, are eager to go there.

"The bright spot of MARSIS data is an unusual and extremely intriguing feature," said Jim Green, NASA's chief scientist, in a statement released on Wednesday. "We hope to use other instruments to study more in the future."

In May, NASA launched another spacecraft, the Mars InSight Lander, which will dig under the surface after reaching a flat plain just north of the March equator in November.

Associated Press contributed to this report.