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Mars was a planet filled with water, with lakes, rivers, seas, ocean basins, sparkling deltas, and who knows what else. Then losing its magnetic field it was exposed to the solar wind that over billions of years made it what it is today, a red desert.
But it is not accurate to say that Mars has been completely drained, because there is still water on Mars, but not on the surface. Today a new study by Nature Astronomy suggests that at least in the south pole of the planet there may be a lake buried under the ice. It could measure up to 30 km in diameter and be kept warm by geothermal heating, similar to the kind generated on Earth by radioactive isotopes or underground magma.
Derek BerwinGetty Images
Several surveys have put the cap known as Ultimi Scopuli in the spotlight. The scans revealed a highly reflective area in a frequency consistent with a large deposit of liquid water. Yet it wasn’t that simple to identify with certainty.
Today, Neil Arnold’s study from the University of Cambridge tackled the mystery and came up with a very positive outcome.
“The combination of the new topographical evidence, the results of our computer model and the radar data make it much more likely that at least one area of subglacial liquid water exists on Mars and that Mars must still be geothermally active to keep the water under the liquid of the ice cap, “said the scientist.
What implications this could have for life on Mars are unknown, but the more places there is certainty there is liquid water, the closer we are to stumbling upon traces of extraterrestrial life.
