Page 48 - Tehelka Issue 15 August 2018

cientists have announced the
discovery of a possible lake,
buried a mile under the ice
near the South Pole on Mars.
S A Mars orbiter has detected a
lake about 20 kilometers across, buried
under layers of solid ice.
Combining more than three years of
observations from the European Space
Agency’s orbiting Mars Express space-
craft, Roberto Orosei of the National
Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna, Presence of a
Italy and his colleagues pieced together
possible evidence to show the possibil-
ity of a lake on Mars, in a report which ‘lake’ on Mars
was published online on July 25 in the
journal, Science.
Planetary scientist, Briony Horgan
of Purdue University in West Lafayette, raises hope
Indiana said, “This is potentially a really
big deal. It’s another type of habitat in
which life could be living on Mars today.” for life
The MARSIS instrument of the Mars
Express orbiter, which stands for Mars
Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ion-
osphere Sounding, aimed radar waves at
the planet to probe beneath its surface.
Combining the 29 radar observations
taken over three years, MARSIS revealed Recent developments on the search for life on the red planet have
a bright spot in the ice layers near the increased the confidence of scientists. The red planet is becoming a
South Pole of the planet.
Orosei and his colleagues considered centre of attention for stargazers worldwide for a variety of reasons.
other explanations for the bright spot, Could Mars be a potential human colony? younis dar writes
but the presence of a lake seemed to the
most plausible. The lake is probably not
pure water, considering the tempera- lect enough data to convince themselves till 1.5 kilometres in order to establish the
tures at that depth can reach -68° Celsius the lake was real. presence of water.
and pure water would freeze there. But a Extensive observations by different However, the development marks
lot of salt, in particular magnesium, calci- space agencies have hinted that Mars a remarkable step in the search for life
um, and sodium compounds are known was once a wet world, after analyzing the on other planets. Possibilities of future
as perchlorates, which are readily found ancient waterways on the planet. human missions to the planet will
on the surface of Mars, dissolved in the The scientists can’t confirm how deep require basic sustenance for life, the
water could lower that freezing point. the lake really is; the radar pulses from presence of water is one of them. There
Scientists suggest the pool could also be the MARSIS instrument bounce off the are about a dozen rovers and satellites
more mud than water, but that could still surface of the water, but can’t reach the actively studying Mars and have been
be a habitable environment. bottom. They, however, say it has to be at able to beam back significant and critical
“If this [lake] is confirmed, it’s a sub- least a meter deep. data, which could help in further under-
stantial change in our understanding of The observation has stunned the standing of the planet.
the present-day habitability of Mars,” said space enthusiasts around the world, as it The surface of Mars may be inhos-
Lisa Pratt, NASA’s planetary protection adds to the possibility of a living life on pitable today, but NASA says there is
officer. the red planet. It may take a while to con- clinching evidence that in the distant
The MARSIS team has been searching firm whether it is really a lake of water, past, the Martian climate allowed liquid
since Mars Express began orbiting the considering it is not very easy to investi- water, which is an essential ingredient
Red Planet in 2003, although under-ice gate at such a dept with limited technol- for life.
lakes were first hinted at back in 1987. It ogy. Scientists could get a robot to the Another recent announcement by
took the team more than a decade to col- designated place and drill underground NASA about the presence of organic

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