In 2018, several underground lakes were discovered under the surface of Mars. At that time, the scientific community was skeptical about this information. However, new evidence has recently come in to support the hypothesis of the existence of life on the Red Planet.
The observations from which the first conclusions were drawn are based on a series of photographs taken from 2012 to 2015. The new study is based on data from the Mars Express spacecraft, owned by the European Space Agency (ESA). He explored the southern polar region of the planet between 2012 and 2019. The flying laboratory has used advanced radar to probe the bowels and the ionosphere, studying radio waves bouncing off certain minerals on the surface of Mars.
The researchers explain that different materials reflect signals in different ways, which is actively used to search for underground glacial lakes on Earth. As a result, underground lakes were found on an area of 75 thousand km 2 at a depth of about one kilometer. The largest has a diameter of about 30 kilometers in diameter, the two smallest – no more than a few kilometers.
The new discovery has not yet found broad support in the scientific community. Some researchers believe that there are no lakes on Mars. Others cite the example of the Antarctic basins, where, due to the high salt content, living things could not be found.
We will remind, earlier researchers have already expressed the idea that life on Mars can be found in areas with high ice content. However, the Rosalind rover, which should confirm this, will not launch into Earth until August 2022.