Who’s coming with me?

Researchers have finally found the evidence they’ve been looking for – a body of water on Mars. What they’re calling a 20km wide ‘lake’ can apparently be found under the planet’s south polar ice cap.

We found out from BBC that the discovery was made using Marsis, a radar instrument on the European Space Agency’s (Esa) Mars Express orbiter:

Radar instruments like Marsis examine the surface and immediate subsurface of the planet by sending out a signal and examining what is bounced back.

The continuous white line at the top of the radar results above marks the beginning of the South Polar Layered Deposit; a filo pastry-like accumulation of water ice and dust.

Beneath this, researchers spotted something unusual 1.5km under the ice.

Prof Orosei from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics led the study. He says:

“In light blue you can see where the reflections from the bottom are stronger than surface reflection. This is something that is to us the tell tale sign of the presence of water.”

But does this mean there’s other life out there? Please say yes? Please say no?

Open University’s Dr Manish Patel is cleverer than you:

“We have long since known that the surface of Mars is inhospitable to life as we know it, so the search for life on Mars is now in the subsurface.

“We are not closer to actually detecting life, but what this finding does is give us the location of where to look on Mars. It is like a treasure map – except in this case, there will be lots of ‘X’s marking the spots.”

We’ll hit you up again when they find the aliens. For now, say the word ‘human’ until you forget what it means.

[source:bbc]