If there is life on Mars, scientists think they know where to find it.
Researchers have detected three more buried lakes, all besides one of the largest underground reservoirs discovered on the planet. Scientists believe that under Mars’ icy surface, life could exist in these primordial waters.
The report was published in science journal Nature, and quoted co-author Elena Pettinelli calling the underground water system incredibly “complex”.
The lakes are spread out over 75,000 square kilometers (basically, double the size of Belgium). The find poses new questions about whether or not there will be life living in these underground lakes.
To be sure, we’re not talking about little green men here. If life does exist under the surface of the red planet, then it almost certainly will be bacterial. However, the exact nature of the bacteria is still very much up in the air.
The underground lakes are incredibly salty – indeed, they must be for the water to remain a liquid under the harsh atmosphere of Mars.
Researchers have previously dismissed that the planet’s core could be heading the water (and therefore keeping it a liquid), so the presence of sodium is really the only theory that works out.
Currently, some forms of bacteria can exist in salty water (they do so in Earth’s seas). But turn up the salt content say 20 times, and the water cease to support life.
Regardless, this is a huge stepping stone in the search for life on Mars.
It is thought that to UAE’s first mission to Mars might actually help shed further light on the great debate. The UAE’s Hope Probe is expected to hit the atmosphere in the first few months of 2021.
Part of its mission is to capture comprehensive weather and landscape data using infra-red spectrometers and ultraviolet detectors. The tools will not only help ascertain more information on whether life indeed could exist up there, but also might one day lead to a manned mission to Mars.
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