Scientists detect massive liquid water lake on Mars

Scientists have previously claimed finding water or ice on Mars, but there was no solid evidence found until now, which has added to the evidence for extra-terrestrial life.

Researchers have detected an entire lake of liquid water on Mars below the surface of the planet’s southern cap in the region known as ‘Planum Australe’. As per the researchers, this amazing discovery might be able to provide the first evidence of life outside Earth along with providing a main source for future human settlement.

The lake around 20km wide and 1.5km below the surface was detected by researchers from University of Bologna led by Roberto Orosei and published in the journal Science. The team suspect that it is because of the dissolved salts from the nearby minerals including magnesium, sodium and calcium found on Mars that stop the water from freezing, regardless of the low temperatures of -68°C, reported Futurism.

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The discovery was made using a radar instrument on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, called MARSIS. The instrument wasn’t able to detect the depth of the water layer, but is estimated to be a minimum of 3.2ft. However, the current technology still is not able to drill deep enough to reach the liquid lake, wrote Daily Mail.

“This is the place on Mars where you have something that most resembles a habitat, a place where life could subsist. This kind of environment is not exactly your ideal vacation, or a place where fish would swim. But there are terrestrial organisms that can survive and thrive, in fact, in similar environments,” Orosei said.

As per researchers, this lake is similar to the subglacial lakes trapped under the ice of the Arctic and Antarctica that might support life too. Astrophysicist Brad Tucker, not involved in the research, said, “For decades, we’ve been finding evidence of either ice or past flows. Now, we know that liquid water currently exists on Mars, and just as subsurface lakes exist in Antarctica here on Earth, we now have that on Mars.”