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Mars photographed in natural color in 2007. Team of the European Space Agency and Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research for OSIRIS
Scientists have been discovering signs of extraterrestrial life in the solar system at an unprecedented rate lately.
On Monday, a group of Italian researchers published a study in the journal Nature astronomy, heralding the discovery of what appeared to be several lakes on Mars beneath the southern ice sheet of the Red Planet.
The lakes were detected by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe. Radar data collected by the spacecraft indicates bodies of salty water more than a kilometer below the icy surface of Mars.
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The central lake, which is about 30 kilometers wide, was first detected in 2018 by the same ESA probe. It was the first body of liquid water found on Mars. However, the discovery was based on just 29 observations made between 2012 and 2015, leaving many researchers skeptical of the conclusion.
The study published this week used a larger data set of 134 observations between 2012 and 2019, confirming “the liquid nature of the previously observed lake,” the research team said in a statement. “The presence of a subglacial lake could have important consequences for astrobiology and the presence of habitable niches on Mars.” The team also found three smaller ponds, each a few kilometers wide, surrounding the main lake. Similar subglacial lakes on Earth are home to microbial life.
“We identified the same body of water, but we also found three other bodies of water around the main one. It’s a complex system, ”says Elena Pettinelli, a planetary scientist at the University of Rome and one of the study’s co-authors.
“The possibility of widespread hypersaline water bodies on Mars is particularly exciting given the potential for microbial life,” the study says. “The bodies of water at the base of the (south pole layered deposits) therefore represent areas of possible astrobiological interest and concern for planetary protection.”
In the coming years, more evidence of life could be revealed on Mars or elsewhere in the solar system. Several Mars probes, including NASA’s Perseverance rover, are already on their way to the Red Planet. And several private space companies are planning life-hunting missions for Venus, where scientists recently discovered signs of life.
In August, a group of Japanese scientists discovered that some microscopic organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, can survive for years in the vacuum of space, increasing the possibility of “planting” life in extraterrestrial environments.
The same month, a NASA spacecraft discovered a large ocean of salt water beneath the surface of a dwarf planet called Ceres located between Mars and Jupiter.
