Scientists have discovered new evidence suggesting that there is liquid water on Mars.
Since Martian polar ice caps can be seen from Earth with the help of telescopes, astronomists have long known there is water – in the shape of ice – on the fourth planet from the Sun.
Now, however, fresh evidence suggests that the Red Planet also contains liquid water despite its freezing atmosphere and unforgiving temperature fluctuations.
The results are stemming from an independent study led by the University of Cambridge that used various data to confirm the presence of liquid water under the polar ice sheets on Mars.
“This study gives the best indication yet that there is liquid water on Mars today because it means that two of the key pieces of evidence we would look for when searching for subglacial lakes on Earth have now been found on Mars,” second study author, Dr. Frances Butcher of The University of Sheffield, said.
“Liquid water is an essential ingredient for life, although it does not necessarily mean that life exists on Mars.
“In order to be liquid at such cold temperatures, the water beneath the south pole might need to be really salty, which would make it difficult for any microbial life to inhabit it.”
As the researcher confirmed, the water on Mars would have to be really salty for it to stay liquid under the current conditions on the planet, meaning it is unlikely there are lifeforms present in it.
“However, it does give hope that there were more habitable environments in the past when the climate was less unforgiving,” Dr. Butcher added in a reference to the physical changes the Red Planet underwent in the past.
To form this conclusion, the researchers examined data captured by spacecraft laser-altimeter which analyzed the shape and patterns of the Red Planet’s ice caps.
This data was then compared to computer model predictions on how bodies of liquid water would look under a layer of ice, and the results confirmed the shape of the ice caps suggests there is water running underneath them.
The results of the international research were posted in Nature Astronomy and appear to refute previous beliefs that water on Mars’ poles, unlike on Earth, is frozen all the way to the bedrock due to the planet’s cold temperatures.
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