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On the planet Mars there is water and salt. Now scientists are going for confirmation that there could also be signs of life. Maybe in the future the stories of the red planet will cease to be science fiction.
A huge underground lake was detected for the first time on Mars, increasing the possibility of water and perhaps even life. Wednesday
Located under a layer of Martian ice, the lake is about 20 kilometers wide, according to the report published in the journal Science and conducted by Italian researchers.
It is the largest liquid water plan It has been found on the red planet. "The water is there, and we have no doubt," said co-author Enrico Flamini, director of the Mars Express space mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), at a press conference. "It took us many years of analysis and testing to find a good method to make sure that what we were observing was clearly liquid water," says Flamini.
The discovery was made with the help of radar instruments from the Mars Express probe of the European Space Agency (AEA), launched in 2003. The tool 's Calls Advanced Radar for the Mars Ionosphere and Subsurface Research (Marsis) and was designed to find groundwater by sending radar pulses penetrating the surface and ice caps.
Marsis "measures how radio waves propagate and how they are reflected in the vessel," says the study. These reflections "provide scientists with information about what lies beneath the surface".
The team of scientists who discovered the lake on Mars comes from an area called Planum Austral, located in the southern part of the ice cap. March, from May 2012 to December 2015. "It's the place of Marte where you have what looks most like a habitat, a place where life could survive," said L & # 39; Astronomer Roberto Orosei, of the National Institute of Astrophysics of Italy, who led the research published in the journal Science
"This type of environment is not exactly your ideal vacation or a place where fish would swim," Orosei added. "But, in fact, there are terrestrial organisms that can survive and thrive in similar environments, there are microorganisms on Earth that are able to survive even on ice," he says
. "Sharp modification of its associated radar signal", allowing scientists to map the contours of the lake
"The radar profile of this area is similar to that of the liquid water lakes that lie beneath the lake layers . " Antarctic ice and Greenland on Earth, suggesting that there is an underglacial lake at this location on Mars, "says the report.
Mars is now cold, arid and desert, but it was hot and humid and sheltered large amount of liquid water and lakes at least 3,600 million years ago.
And the eternal question: is there any life on Mars? The authors of this research explain that this lake could perfectly well be a "biological deposit."
"Although we do not know the exact composition, we believe that it is a type of environment in which certain terrestrial bacteria could survive and could therefore be an ecological deposit and possibly inhabited. "development", di t Orosei
For this researcher from the Italian Institute of Astrophysics, we will now have to look for another type of lake like this or it's the last thermal vestige and certify that 'Mars is a completely dead planet. 19659018] "If we find more lakes like this, we could conclude that Mars was once a temperate planet where we could have lived," he said. Now, said Orosei, the water search mission on Mars "is not over, but has finally started and years of observation are waiting for us."
"This is an amazing result that suggests that water on Mars This is not a temporary current, as has been revealed in previous discoveries, but a persistent water course that creates living conditions over long periods of time, "said Alan Duffy, a professor at the University of Swinburne in Australia.
The study has the opportunity to access sources of information. water could also help humans survive in a future inhabited mission on this planet near the Earth.
Some experts are skeptical about the possibility of finding life in Mate because the lake is cold and brackish, and contains a high dose of dissolved Martian salts and minerals
The temperature is probably below the freezing point of water, but it may remain liquid due to the presence of magnesium, calcium and sodium
] "This discovery is of an i Extraordinary importance and will increase speculation about the presence of living organisms on the red planet, "said Fred Wat-son. , from the Astronomical Observatory of Australia. "However, caution should be exercised, since the concentration of salts needed to maintain liquid water could be fatal to any microbial life similar to that on Earth," added Watson, who was not involved in research.
Dreams of a Lunar Base
Last December, while 45 years have passed since humans walked on the moon, Donald Trump asked NASA to "dream big" and to establish a "base" on the satellite. previous to reach Mars. "This time, not only will they place the flag and leave their mark on the moon, but they will also establish a base for a possible voyage to Mars," he said in reference to the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
ask if there is life "
Verification of the existence of an underground, liquid and salty lake on Mars, under a layer of ice, increases the chances of finding life on the red planet. "González Fairén, of the Center for Astrobiology (CAB), in Madrid, it is" the scientific discovery of the year "and the discovery this liquid water makes life on Mars even more possible ", an opinion shared by José Antonio Rodríguez Manfredi, also from CAB:" This increases the chances of finding life; previously it was suspected, but it does not exist. had no empirical evidence. "
According to González Fairén, with this discovery and the discovery of organic compounds made p ar the Curiosity rover a month ago, "we now know that Mars has the basic ingredients that we are made all living things: liquid water and organic compounds. "
This is a first result, said this CAB-center researcher from the Higher Council of Scientific Research and National Institute of Aerospace Technology, and pointed out that there could be other areas on Mars with underground lakes, even more accessible areas for our robots. "
The astronomer and director of the Pamplona Planetarium, Javier Armentia, agrees that this is one of the" relevant "discoveries of the year , and said that the Marsis radar installed in the Mars Express probe has confirmed that there is a phenomenon that occurs on Earth, only in large masses There are lakes in the ice. The detection with this radar is quite reliable and if there is water at a kilometer and a peak under the ice it means that the mechanisms are there and are possible. Can living conditions then be given? Now, it is legitimate to ask him. "
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