Nasa finds THREE new liquid water lakes on Mars – giving hope for alien life discovery
THREE liquid water lakes have been found on Mars – bringing the grand total up to four. All four lakes were “confirmed” by space scientists, giving hope for the discovery of alien life on the red planet. The first lake on Mars was found two years ago, deep underground. And now using Nasa, ESA and […]
THREE liquid water lakes have been found on Mars – bringing the grand total up to four.
All four lakes were “confirmed” by space scientists, giving hope for the discovery of alien life on the red planet.
The first lake on Mars was found two years ago, deep underground.
And now using Nasa, ESA and ISA equipment, a team of researchers was able to find even more sub-surface lakes.
“We identified the same body of water,” said Elena Pettinelli, of the University of Rome.
“But we also found three other bodies of water around the main one. It’s a complex system.”
New radar systems that had been trialled in Antarctica and Greenland were used to find the new reservoirs on Mars.
Researchers think it’s likely a very salty brine, which would help explain why they hadn’t frozen.
That could potentially sustain an Earth-like life on the red planet.
“There’s not much active life in these briny pools in Antarctica,” said John Priscu, of Montana State University.
“They’re just pickled. And that might be the case [on Mars].”
However, not all scientists are convinced that these bodies of water are lakes as we know them.
“If the bright material really is liquid water, I think it’s more likely to represent some sort of slush or sludge,” said Purdue University’s Mike Sori.
Thankfully, there’s hope that we might soon have answers.
Mars facts
Here's what you need to know about the Red Planet...
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
- It is named after the Roman god of war
- The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
- Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
- Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
- It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
- So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful
China’s Tianwen-1 mission is expected to enter Martian orbit in February 2021.
This includes an orbiter and a rover, both of which will be able to make observations that could help confirm or refute the discovery.
And if we can prove that water exists in Mars, there’s hope for an even bigger discovery.
“There may have been a lot of water on Mars,” said Pettinelli.
“And if there was water, there was the possibility of life.”
This research was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Most read in Science
In other news, alien life could be hiding in underground lunar lakes.
Nasa has shown off a new lunar lander that could put astronauts back on the Moon in 2024.
Find out how long you’d survive on each planet in our Solar System.
And, a massive star in a distant galaxy has baffled astronomers by disappearing without a trace.
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