FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Mars Express Radar Indicates a Liquid Lake Under the South Pole

July 25, 2018 (EIRNS)—It has been known from earlier measurements by spacecraft, including the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter, that there is water ice at the poles of Mars. NASA’s Phoenix lander melted some ice from the heat of its engine when it landed in the Martian Arctic. But now, after analyzing data collected by the Mars Express orbiter over the past 15 years, scientists have come to the stunning conclusion that there is liquid water underneath the South Pole of the planet.

Creating new analytical techniques, using the data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding Instrument, or MARSIS, scientists determined that the timing and strength of the reflected radar signal were indicative of water-rich sediments. Principal investigator of the MARSIS experiment, Roberto Orosei, said,

“This is just one small study area; it is an exciting prospect to think there could be more of these underground pockets of water elsewhere, yet to be discovered.”

ESA’s press release on the discovery likens it to Lake Vostok, discovered 4 km underneath the ice in Antarctica, where certain forms of life thrive.

Last week data were released revealing that there are organic molecules on Mars. And there will be an armada of spacecraft heading to Mars in 2020, when Earth and Mars are in a very favorable positional relationship. There will undoubtedly be a flow of new discoveries.