Underground lake discovered in Mars

Researchers have found evidence of stable liquid water on Mars for the first time on 25.7.2018, Wednesday. This breakthrough comes from research using the Mars Express spacecraft that has been orbiting the red planet since December 25, 2003.

Previous research has found possible signs of intermittent liquid water on Mars’ surface, but none of stable liquid water. A radar instrument on a spacecraft has now detected a 20-km wide reservoir trapped 1.5 km beneath the ice on the Red planet’s South Pole.

“We discovered water on Mars,” said Roberto Orosei of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna. Any other explanation for the bright reflections the scientists saw in their radar observations was “untenable”, he said.

If water is found, can life be far behind discovery

As in Earth, if water is the medium for life, the question arises that this lake may show some proof of life. For this further research is needed in the form of drilling into the lake.

The water is likely to be extremely cold. The temperature of the bottom of the ice at the Martian South Pole is around -68 degrees Celsius. Though this is not ideal habitat for life, several microorganisms can live in the lake.