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Underground lake detected on Mars
Why it is in news?
- Using a radar instrument on an orbiting spacecraft, scientists have spotted what they said on Wednesday appears to be a sizeable salt-laden lake under ice on the southern polar plain of Mars, a body of water they called a possible habitat for microbial life.
More in news
- mbled that of subglacial lakes found beneath Earth's Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.
- Mars long ago was warmer and wetter, possessing significant bodies of water, as evidenced by dry lake beds and river valleys on its surface.
- There had been some signs of liquid water currently on Mars, including disputed evidence of water activity on Martian slopes, but not stable bodies of water.
- The water in the Martian lake was below the normal freezing point but remained liquid thanks in large part to high levels of salts.
- The water temperature at somewhere between 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) and minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius).
- It remains to be seen if more subsurface reservoirs of water will be found or whether the newly discovered one is some sort of quirk.
- If others are detected and a network of subglacial lakes exists like on Earth, that could indicate liquid water has persisted for millions of years or even dating back to 3-1/2 billion years ago when Mars was a more hospitable planet.
- Whether any life forms that could have evolved long ago on Mars have found a way to survive until now.
Source
The Hindu