A huge lake of liquid water has been found on Mars

Announced in the journal Science, specialists led by Dr. Roberto Orosei from the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Rome say they have discovered an immense reservoir of water under the southern axis of Mars. So vast, in fact, that it appears to be like a subglacial lake on Earth, one where life could arise.

“This is possibly the main living space that we know of on Mars,” Dr. Orosei told IFLScience. “It is the main place where microorganisms like those that exist today on Earth could survive.”

The huge water supply was found by a radar instrument, the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS), aboard ESA’s Mars Express shuttle. The group used information collected by the shuttle from May 2012 to December 2015.

The information showed that 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) below the surface, in a place called Planum Australe, there was a spring of flowing water that stretched for about 20 kilometers (12 miles). The group does not know how deep this water supply is; however, it is observed that, in any case, it is deeper than a couple of many centimeters, and possibly more.

It was recognized by sending 29 sets of radar beats below the surface, with reflections demonstrating a radar flag relatively indistinguishable from pools of flowing water found beneath the ice of Antarctica and Greenland on Earth, strongly proposing that it is water. fluid. Be that as it may, the correct idea of ​​water at the moment is nebulous.

“It is extremely difficult to say what it is that we are looking at,” Dr. Anja Diez of the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, Norway, who composed a point of view in the exam, told IFLScience. “It could be a thin layer of water, an expansive layer, or water in the silt.”

The group said they thought of a few different possible outcomes for the flag, including a layer of carbon dioxide ice or low-temperature water ice. However, they recommend that these are implausible in light of the fact that they would not have caused as strong a reflection as is found in the information.

The attributes of this speculated water are confused with the conditions in which it is found. On Earth, subglacial lakes reach temperatures of about -60 ° C (-76 ° F). Be that as it may, the great weight of the ice above reduces the dissolving purpose of the water, to the point where it exists as a fluid in substantial freshwater lakes.

Below this district on Mars, in any case, it is an idea that temperatures drop to about -68 ° C (-90 ° F). All put together in order for the water to remain fluid here, it is likely loaded with salts like magnesium, calcium, and sodium and subsequently brackish, rather than like freshwater lakes found beneath ice on Earth. However, we do have some salty lakes on Earth.

“Beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, the water may be at its liquefaction point due to the ice above,” said Dr. Diez. “On Mars, this is extraordinary, as extremely cold temperatures are normal under ice. Water can exist because it is brackish.”

A lot of subglacial lakes have been penetrated on Earth, incorporating Lake Vostok in Antarctica. These activities are difficult and it can take a long time to dig under a few kilometers of ice. However, the logical result is enormous, and each time we penetrate, we discover life.

Already on Mars, we have discovered the confirmation of water flow at first glance, known as a repeating sloping line (RSL). These highlights are fleeting, however, with the water rapidly disappearing in the low-weight condition on the Martian surface.

However, it has been speculated for quite some time that there could be a more constant variety of liquid below the surface, as demonstrated in this examination. In addition, if that is the situation, it gives a new energizing environment to the microorganisms that the shepherd introduces on Mars.

“It is imperative to know if this [reservoir] it’s something extraordinary, “said Dr. Orosei.” On the off chance that it is territorial, not a neighborhood, at that point you may have a complete arrangement of subglacial lakes like what you see on Earth. It would have courses so that living beings, if they existed, would have a considerably higher condition and perhaps move. “

To answer this, the group plans to use more information from Mars Express in the coming years. However, the shuttle is maturing and running low on fuel, so timing is important.

Reaching these flowing water springs later on can also be problematic. Boring tasks on Earth require confusing gadgets, something we basically don’t have on Mars. The promising European rover ExoMars in 2020 will have the ability to drill about 2 meters (6.6 feet) below the surface, but that may not be enough to approach underground water supplies in this way.

There are still unanswered inquiries regarding this fluent water disclosure. It is not clear whether it is an expansive body or essentially water seeping through the rocks. What it does suggest, however, is that fluid water exists beneath the surface of Mars.

On Earth, flowing water often implies life. Combined with the ongoing disclosure of the building squares of life on Mars, and the likelihood that it once had a more sustainable condition, the evidence is growing that the Red Planet may not be so dead all things considered.

“This is probably what we would represent as a territory,” Dr. Orosei said. “It has, in any case, a part of the conditions that terrestrial microorganisms would need to survive.”