Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) – A network of saline lakes swirls next to a large underground lake below the South Pole of Mars, increasing the likelihood of small, floating Martian life.
Italian scientists reported their findings on Monday, two years after it was identified as a large buried lake. Using more data than radar sounder on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter, they widened their coverage area by several hundred miles.
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists provide further evidence of this saline underground lake, estimated to be 12 miles by 18 miles (20 kilometers to 30 kilometers) and buried 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) below the icy surface. .
More boringly, they have also identified three small bodies of water in the vicinity of the lake. These lakes are of different sizes and differ from the main lake.
About a billion billion years ago, Mars was as warm and wet as Earth. But the red planet finally morphed into a desolate, arid world that is still there today.
The research team, led by Sebastian Emanuel Lauro of Roma Tre University, used a method similar to the one used on Earth to find buried lakes in the Antarctic and Canadian Arctic. They based their findings on more than 100 radar observations by Mars Express from 2010 to 2019; The spacecraft was launched in 2003.
All of this potential water increases the likelihood of microbial life on Mars – or inside. The high concentration of salt is probably preventing the water from freezing in this stable place, scientists have noted. The surface temperature at the South Pole is approximately minus 172 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 113 degrees Celsius), and gradually warms with depth.
The researchers wrote that these water objects are potentially biologically interesting and that “future targets toward Mars should target the region,” the researchers wrote.
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