Insert all the usual caveats about press releases here, but this doesn't seem to be too overtly crazy.
Researchers have found evidence of an existing body of liquid water on Mars. What they believe to be a lake sits beneath the Red Planet's south polar ice cap, and is about 20km across. Previous research found possible signs of intermittent liquid water flowing on the martian surface, but this is the first sign of a persistent body of water on the planet in the present day.
The discovery was made using Marsis, a radar instrument on board the Mars Express orbiter. "It's probably not a very large lake," says Prof Roberto Orosei from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, who led the study. Marsis wasn't able to determine how deep the layer of water might be, but the research team estimate that it is a minimum of one metre. "This really qualifies this as a body of water. A lake, not some kind of meltwater filling some space between rock and ice, as happens in certain glaciers on Earth," Prof Orosei added.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44952710
Intriguing.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!
ReplyDeleteI always figured if it was to be found, life would be at a depth where pressure allowed water to remain liquid. Considering the tennacity of life here, if it had indeed evolved, I wouldn't be at all surprised if some residual form still manages to survive
ReplyDelete