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Scientists announced that they had discovered evidence of the presence of liquid water on the red planet.
On Mars, found a lake with liquid water. An underground water reservoir of a diameter of about 20 kilometers became the first convincing evidence of the presence of water in the liquid state of the planet.
Marshall Curiosity did not find on Mars that a dried up lake – a testimony of the fact that in the past the water was on Mars. Correspondent.net tells the details of a new discovery.
Liquid Water on Mars
Some forms of the relief of the Martian surface, such as the riverbed and the lake bed, suggest that there was some water there. water on Mars. The water is present in the narrow atmosphere of the planet, and the poles of Mars are covered with ice caps.
There is a lot of water on Mars. In 2016, more than 10 meters deep under the utopian plain, we found a frozen lake. Ice has also been found on some slopes of the ravines.
Scientists thought that the dark stripes appearing in summer on the southern hemisphere of the red planet could be very salty water courses. However, in 2017, this assumption was rejected by declaring sandbands.
The MARSIS radar aboard the European space probe Mars Express surveyed the 200-kilometer zone of the South Shelf. At 29 photos, scientists found the area where the signal changed drastically – it looked like Lake Greenland and Antarctica.
Map of the southern plateau and the place exploring the MARSIS
The diameter of the reservoir with liquid water is estimated at 20 kilometers, but the radar power is not enough to accurately describe the contours of the lake. The radar could not measure the thickness of the water layer, but scientists believe that it does not measure less than one meter.
"This allows us to categorize it as an independent water reservoir: it's a lake, not just a space filled with water thawed between ice and mountainous rock that's the only one in the world. it can sometimes be found under glaciers, "says the scientist
.
A place where liquid was found on Mars
A line of continuous light in the photo slightly above reflects the upper layer of sedimentary deposits on the south pole of the planet. It is a pasty mixture consisting of dust and iced water.
However, under this direction, scientists have discovered something unusual.
"The blue color indicates the area that reflects the signal much better than the surface of the planet.It is for us an indicator of the availability of water," explains Professor Orosey
It can be assumed that the water temperature in the lake is negative. But, like on Earth, the impurities in the water and the pressure of the ice can lower the temperature of its gel, so that it remains liquid.
The Phoenix Martian landing module found in the ground at the north pole of magnesium, calcium perchlorate and sodium, whose presence supports the hypothesis of liquid water under polar ice and explains why he does not freeze.
MARSIS has only studied a few percent of the southern shelf, and its characteristics only allow to see large amounts of water, but not, for example, its merged water courses. Scientists assume that liquid water on Mars may be in other places.
Data collected by the MARSIS radar in one flight
The life of Mars was fixed
In recent years, geologists, astrobiologists and other experts have been actively discussing the existence of reserves of organic matter or microbes in the near-surface layers of the Earth of Mars, where there is liquid water that hardly penetrates the cosmic rays and where it is relatively hot.
However, the instruments of the MARSIS radar can not determine if there are conditions of existence of life in liquid water.
"With these new discoveries, Mars tells us to keep looking for signs of life, I'm sure our future and future missions are preparing even more exciting discoveries on the red planet," says Thomas Zurbuchen, director of the department of NASA's scientific programs. ]
High concentrations of methane are shown in yellow and red // Photo: NASA
Chemical analysis of lacustrine deposits found by the rover in the Gail crater confirmed the presence of A large number of organic compounds: thiophenes, aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. The age of the substances is about 3.5 billion years old.
All detected organic groups can be parts of some more complex molecules. However, no biological or geological source can be excluded, and it is not possible to obtain organic compounds on Mars with a meteorite.
Methane is part of the number of biomarkers, indicating the possible presence of life on the planet. Studies of curiosity have shown that the concentration of methane in the Mars atmosphere increases during the summer and falls during the winter, reaching concentrations of 2.5 and 6.5 by 10 billion.
Atmospheric processes can not explain such changes. This argues in favor of the theory that methane is formed in the lower layers of Mars soil or results from the activity of microbes, or because of the decomposition of clathrates, methane and water connections or certain processes. geothermal.
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