Underground Lake Spotted on Mars

The scientists discovered a salt-laden lake which is under ice on the southern polar plain of Mars. This is said to be a possible habitat for microbial life and it was found using a radar instrument on an orbitting space craft. The water body that has been discovered is 20km in diameter and is shaped like a rounded triangle and is 1.5km below the ice surface. Water is considered to be the fundamental ingredient of life and the question of having life anywhere except Earth has made the world more curious and even if scientists find any tantalizing evidence but are left with no proof.

Researchers believe that it could take years for anyone to verify whether there is life in this water body.The research was made with a data collected between May 2012 and December 2015 through an instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft which transfers radar pulses and penetrates the Martian surface and ice caps. The Chief scientist at the Italian Space Agency, Enrico Flamini said that it took them long years of analyzing data and struggles to figure out a good method to assure that what they were observing was liquid water.

By: Swati Kaushal

Content: Hindustan Times