Scientists have found that the recently observed reflective points at the south pole of Mars may not be a sign of liquid water as they expected, and while there is water in many places on the surface of Mars, including the poles, astronomers found remarkably bright reflections under the 1.4 km thick pure water ice formation from the European Space Agency’s Mars orbiter.
But computer simulations, created by a team at Cornell University, indicate that another phenomenon, namely the overlap of geological layers on the Red Planet, could be the real cause of these reflections, and strong reflections without water can be created in these simulations. liquid or other rare materials, This makes it unlikely that there is liquid water under the sediments of the Martian South Pole.
The simulation consists of layers made up of four materials, the atmosphere, water ice, carbon dioxide ice and basalt, with computerized monitoring of each layer’s interaction with electromagnetic radiation, and the scientists found that three layers consisting of two layers of carbon dioxide separated from a layer of ice, can produce reflections similar to those that appear on the surface of the planet.
“On Earth, light reflections are often an indication of liquid water, even in buried lakes such as Lake Vostok (below the surface of the East Antarctic ice sheet, which was under 3 kilometers of ice for millions of years). but on Mars, the prevailing opinion was that it was too cold to form similar lakes.
“I used layers of CO2 embedded in water ice because we know they are already present in large quantities near the surface of the ice sheet. In principle, I could have used rock layers or even dusty water ice and I would have had results. similar, “added Lalish.
The discovery of water on Mars is critical because it could be an indication of the presence of life there, as well as a resource that humans can use to develop an outpost. water there, “Lalish explained. We just think the stratified superposition hypothesis is more consistent with the other observations.”
Previous research published in January reinforces the idea that water does not exist under the pole, according to Cyril Grima, a planetary scientist at the University of Texas Geophysics Institute, who said: “The igneous rocks, buried under the ice, appear to be the most likely explanation, because the rich lava flows Iron on Earth can leave behind rocks that produce similar reflections and the same effect is likely to occur on our neighboring planet.
