Nationalgeographic.co.id—In 2018 spaceship Mars Express from the European Space Agency probes the red planet’s polar caps with instruments Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS).
The orbiter detected a bright spot on radar measurements, hinting at a large body of liquid water beneath 1.5 kilometers of solid ice that could be home to living organisms.
Subsequent work found hints of additional ponds around the basin Lake main. However, the planetary science community has always doubted its existence Lake. Because, Lake requires some kind of continuous geothermal heating to maintain subglacial conditions.
Under the ice, the average temperature is 68° Celsius, well past the freezing point of water which lowers the freezing point of water. Even if Lake is salt water that contains a healthy amount of salt. An underground magma pool will be needed to keep the area liquid.
“If not liquid water, is there anything else that could explain the bright radar reflections we see?” asked planetary scientist Carver Bierson of Arizona State University on the page Science News.
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