{"id":13043,"date":"2018-07-29T23:33:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-29T23:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=13043"},"modified":"2018-07-29T23:33:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T23:33:29","slug":"discovered-a-huge-liquid-water-lake-beneath-the-southern-pole-of-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/discovered-a-huge-liquid-water-lake-beneath-the-southern-pole-of-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovered: a huge liquid water lake beneath the southern pole of Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonti Horner<\/a>, University of Southern Queensland<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We now know that there is permanent liquid water on Mars, according to a paper published today<\/a> in the journal Science.<\/p>\n

This new finding comes from research using the Mars Express<\/a> spacecraft that has been orbiting the red planet since December 25, 2003. <\/p>\n

One of the suite of instruments carried by Mars Express is MARSIS (the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding<\/a>), which allows researchers to use radar to study features beneath the planet\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

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\n Read more:
\n There is water on Mars, but what does this mean for life?<\/a>
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\n <\/em>\n<\/p>\n

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Using observations spanning a period of four years, a team of researchers from Italy found evidence of a large lake of salty water, buried 1.5 kilometres beneath Mars\u2019 southern polar cap. That lake is at least 20 kilometres across, and seems to be a permanent feature.<\/p>\n

More than droplets<\/h2>\n

The reason people are excited about this discovery is because on Earth, everywhere you find liquid water, you find life. NASA has long espoused a philosophy of \u201cfollow the water<\/a>\u201d in its program of astrobiological research<\/a> \u2013 trying to answer the question \u201care we alone?\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past two decades, we have seen mission after mission travel to Mars. Some, like Mars Express, are orbiters, whereas others (such as the incredible Spirit<\/a> and Opportunity<\/a>) are rovers. A unifying theme across those missions has been their attempts to see whether Mars once had the right conditions for life to exist and thrive.<\/p>\n

Through them we have found abundant evidence that Mars was once warm and wet<\/a>. We also have evidence that liquid water can still be found on the surface of Mars<\/a>, from time to time. <\/p>\n

But until today, the evidence of modern water all pointed towards fleeting moments – droplets condensing on the Mars Phoenix lander<\/a>; or evidence of brief outflows of salty water in Martian valleys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Compared with today\u2019s discovery, those earlier findings are a drop in the ocean.<\/p>\n

Mars has a lake<\/h2>\n

The latest observations reveal something remarkable: a salty lake buried deep beneath the ice, which seems to be a permanent feature rather than a transient phenomenon.<\/p>\n

The comparison that springs to mind are the myriad lakes buried under the ice of Antarctica. So far more than 400<\/a> such lakes have been found beneath the surface of the frozen continent<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the most famous is Lake Vostok<\/a> \u2013 one of the world\u2019s largest lakes, buried and hidden away. But the one to which I want to draw your attention is named Lake Whillans.<\/p>\n

Lake Whillans is buried some 800 metres below the ice in West Antarctica. In 2013, a team of researchers succeeded in drilling down into the lake<\/a> and recovering samples. What did they find? That it was teeming with microbial life<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In other words, the best Earth-based analogues for the newly discovered Martian lake are not just habitable, they are inhabited<\/em>. Where there\u2019s water, there\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Is there life on Mars?<\/h2>\n

Finding this new lake, buried beneath Mars\u2019 south pole, is another exciting step on our journey of discovery of the red planet. Could there be life there, beneath the ice?<\/p>\n

The short answer is that we still don\u2019t know. But it seems like the ideal place to look. What we do<\/em> know is:<\/p>\n