A group of European scientists have announced that they have discovered new evidence for the possible existence of liquid water under the ice cap at its South Pole. Mars. The new estimates are consistent with earlier radar measurements that “see” below the ice surface, which were initially interpreted as indicating the possibility of liquid water below.

Researchers from the UK, France and Ireland led by Professor Neil Arnold of the Scott Institute of Polar Research at the University of Cambridge in the UK relevant publication The astronomical journal Nature Astronomy used satellite measurements of the shape of the ice sheet’s upper surface to use a computer model to predict whether the volume of water under the polar ice sheet might affect the frozen surface above the surface.

“The combination of new topographic data, results from our computational model, and radar data now makes it much more likely that at least one region of subglacial liquid water exists on Mars today and that the planet still needs to be geothermally active to support liquid water under the ice sheet.” , Arnold said.

Like Earth, Mars has thick layers of ice at both poles, the total volume of which is estimated to be comparable to the Greenland ice sheet. However, unlike our planet, where water-filled channels or even large lakes can exist under the polar ice cap, until recently it was believed that there was nothing but solid ice under the polar ice cap of Mars due to the very coldness of Mars. climate.

In 2018, for the first time, data from MARSIS radar on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express satellite orbiting a nearby planet showed that a region at the base of the ice under the Martian south pole strongly reflects a radar signal that has been interpreted as indicating the existence of liquid water under the ice.

An analysis of new data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor satellite on the topography of the South Pole’s polar cap has revealed a surface 10 to 15 kilometers long that is different from the surrounding area and has signs of water – perhaps even frozen. the lake is at the bottom, which is reinforced by calculations and modeling of a special computer model.

Source: RES-IPE