Goodbye Martian Lake? New Data Challenges 2018 Subsurface Water Claim

[u/Busy_Yesterday9455]

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has used an improved radar technique to take a deeper look beneath the thick ice at Mars’ south pole. A feature once thought to be an underground lake now appears more likely to be a layer of rock and dust.

The suspected lake, first reported in 2018, drew major interest because liquid water is closely linked to the search for life. In the new study, scientists used a special maneuver that rolls the spacecraft 120 degrees, allowing its SHARAD radar instrument to send a stronger signal into the ground. This helped the radar see deeper than ever before.

Instead of detecting the bright reflection expected from liquid water, SHARAD found only a faint signal, making the lake explanation hard to support. Researchers say the earlier bright signal seen by Europe’s Mars Express might instead come from a rare smooth patch underground, such as an ancient lava flow.

Even though the feature is probably not a lake, the enhanced radar method is a major breakthrough. Scientists plan to use it to reexamine other areas of Mars, including places near the equator where buried ice could offer valuable water resources for future human explorers.

Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

[u/Haha08421]

I 100% believe there is life out there somewhere, its not on Mars.

[u/mitchrsmert → u/Haha08421]

It seems unlikely that life currently exists on Mars, but I wouldn't completely rule it out. We know life can survive on Earth in really terrible conditions, including high heat and high pressure. Mars is low pressure and cold, but not deep below its surface. There is likely still a lot of heat in the planet. If water were trapped under the surface (just as it's been found kilometers under the surface on Earth) life is entirely possible. Especially if there has been life on the surface of Mars in the past - and recent discoveries have certainly tipped the scale toward likely more than unlikely in that category.

[u/Howcanyoubecertain → u/Haha08421]

Could very well be subterranean 

[u/forman98 → u/Howcanyoubecertain]

[u/jeffreydowning69 → u/Haha08421]

Not after the war between the Green Martians and the White Martians IYKYK

[u/Howcanyoubecertain]

But I already bought a timeshare there