Strong evidence of water on Mars

A team of European scientists announced that they have discovered new evidence that liquid water may exist under the ice sheet at the south pole of Mars. The new estimates are consistent with previous radar measurements of “seeing” below the surface of the ice, which were initially interpreted as indicating the possible presence of liquid water below.

Researchers from Britain, France and Ireland led by Professor Neil Arnold of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, UK, who published the related publication in the journal Nature Astronomy, used satellite measurements of the shape of the ice sheet’s upper surface, in order to make a prediction, with the help of a computer model. , whether the volume of water under the polar ice sheet can affect the frozen surface above.

“Combining the new topographic data with the results of our computational model and radar data makes it likely that there is at least one region of subglacial liquid water on Mars today, and that the planet is still geothermally active in order to maintain liquid water under the ice cap.” “ Arnold male.

Like Earth, Mars has thick layers of ice at both poles, the total volume of which is estimated compared to the Greenland ice sheet. However, unlike our planet, where water-filled channels or even large lakes may exist under the polar ice cap, until recently it was believed that under the polar ice cap of Mars there was only solid ice due to the extremely cold climate of Mars. .

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

Analysis of new data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor satellite on the topography of Antarctica’s polar cap has revealed a surface 10-15 km long that differs from the surrounding area and bears signs of water – possibly even frozen lake – below, which are corroborated by computer model calculations and simulations. The private.