The lake was discovered using radar pulses from the Mars Express spacecraft. USGS/ASU/ESA/INAF/Davide Coero Borga''This is potentially the first habitat we know of on Mars”
The decades long search for water on Mars has yielded very little results...
But scientists who believed that the Red Planet was once home to flowing rivers and lakes of liquid water, never gave up hope.
And now it seems that evidence has finally been uncovered! A report published in the Journal 'Science,' says a vast reservoir of water has been found beneath the south pole of Mars.
And the most exciting part? They believe the lake is one where life could arise.
Speaking to popular science website IFLScience, lead researcher of the report, Dr Roberto Orosei from the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in Rome said: “This is potentially the first habitat we know of on Mars.”
“It’s the first place where microorganisms like those that exist today on Earth could survive.”
According to the data from the findings, the body of liquid water is 1.5 kilometers below the surface and spans spanning about 20 kilometers (12 miles) across! However, the team do not know how deep this reservoir of water is.
It was detected by sending 29 sets of radar pulses under the surface, with reflections showing a radar signal almost identical to that from lakes of liquid water found beneath the ice of Antarctica and Greenland on Earth, heavily suggesting it is liquid water.
The radar signal detected by the spacecraft. The water is shown in blue. ESA/INAF/Davide Coero BoraAmazing news! Could this lake be the first place life is confirmed outside of Earth?
