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Italian researchers announced Wednesday that for the first time there is evidence of the presence on Mars of liquid water, in addition to salt, in an underground lake under a layer of ice, thanks to radar results installed on the probe . ] Mars Express of the European Space Agency (AEA).
The discovery signed by a team of Italian researchers concludes that in an area called Plamun Australe, located in the ice cap of the South Pole of Mars, the profile The radar that draws is very similar to that of the Great Lakes. liquid water found under Antarctica and Greenland on Earth.
The research, published Wednesday by Science, was presented at the headquarters of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and was described by its president Roberto Battiston as "the most important in recent years."
To come to these conclusions, the Italian research team obtained 29 sets of radar samples, with which an area was mapped that showed a very pronounced change to 1.5 kilometers below the surface of the ice and which extends for about 20 kilometers.
Roberto Orosei, first researcher of this study and Marsis Radar scientist responsible installed on the probe March Expres explained that "it was found that echoes coming from below this area were more strong that echoes from the surface and that this circumstance occurs only when one observes Orosei said in statements to the EFE that it took several years to reach these conclusions and for this were eliminated a by any other possible explanation until the proof is made that it was water.
The study assures that it is the only one of its kind. salt water, since that is what would allow that, with the pressure of the ice layer, the underground lake remains liquid despite this A temperature between -30 and 70 degrees Celsius, as happens on Earth. [19659004] For this it was defined as the example of Lake Vostok, the most large of the nearly 400 known subglacial lakes of Antarctica, and whose water remains liquid due to the weight exerted by the thick layer of ice.
Scientists do not rule out that we can also think about the possibility of finding a "biological deposit" since there is evidence that some bacteria can survive at low temperatures and especially thanks to saline substances , Orosei said that it would be difficult to find evidence and that it would take several years to drill them
For Orosei, it's a good start to continue to analyze the red planet through the probe ] Mars Express launched in 2003 with the aim of studying the Martian atmosphere, its geology and search for traces of water
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