A team of scientists found evidence of underground aquifer on the red planet. They got radar signatures from the Mars express orbiter which is an European spacecraft launched in 2003 in mars orbit for conducting research.
The radar signatures acquired from the orbiter are similar to those what we get for underground aquifer on earth. This discovery substantially increase the possibility of life on the red planet.
They found those radar signatures when they were scanning ice caps at South Pole of Mars with the help a probe radar instrument named Marsis fitted on the orbiter.
They found a 20 km or 12.4 miles wide water body 1.5 km beneath the glacier. The detailed study is published in Science on July 25,2018.
It is interesting to know that there are some bacteria which can live in very harsh regions like glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland. So there are possibilities that we find some kind of habitable species in that big water pools.
Since here water is under the surface in liquid form there are more chances of finding alien species.
As we know that Mars surface temperature is something about - 26 degree Celsius (or - 80°F) which makes water to freeze.
So how the water can be in form of liquid?
The answer is that salt mixed in water can drop the freezing point of water which help the water to retain its liquid state. Scientists says salts in water of mars can be from Martian rocks.
NASA also stated in 2015 that there are possibility of water flowing as they have found weird dark streaks possibly made by flowing salt water but on the surface.
The findings of streaks by NASA is widely accepted in the science community but there are some scientists who give some other reason for those dark streaks some of them are, the dark streaks may be form due to flow of dark grains of sand rolling downhill and if really they are signs of water flow then also they will appear only in warmer times of the planet.
One of the scientists who did the latest discovery R. Orosei said that 'on any place on the surface of mars even where water appears periodically a terrestrial living organisms would die'.
But under the surface of mars and glaciers there is huge possibility of life. As the water is in liquid all time as it does not get affected by temperature of Mars surface
Second thing is there many salt of Mg, Ca, Na present in the water which lowers down its freezing point.
Third thing is glacier present on top of aquifer increases pressure which prevents the water from freezing at lower temperature. "It constitutes the closest thing to habitat we have found on Mars " says Orosei
Orosei and his team started there searching from May 2012 to December 2015 and additional 2 years for figuring out what Marsis instrument measured.
But it is difficult to say any thing conclusive about this discovery as more evidence are required
The new lander to Mars by NASA launched in may named 'Insight' which have capability to measure heat escaping from the planet to support the latest discovery but still we require more powerful radars and robots for drilling in surface of Mars.
These findings can help us to plan more better for first human space mission, lets hope for the best.
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Note: Images used in this article are taken from pixabay for explanation purpose.
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