Lake on Mars

Lake on Mars

In the past, scientists have discovered volcanoes, canyon systems, methane, streambeds, lava plains, transient eddies, snowfall, planet ensconcing dust storms and more on Mars. Recently, scientists have revealed that they have discovered a 12-mile-wide lake on the Red Planet. This discovery not only further demonstrates Mars’s semblance to Earth, but it also shows potential for detection of Martian life.

The discovery of this subsurface lake was made by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft. The Mars Express team uncovered the polar lake using the spacecraft’s MARSIS instrument. MARSIS uses radar to see beyond the Martian surface by transmitting low frequency radio waves that reverberate off of Mars’s geological features. Using the radar instrument, the team detected a salty lake similar to the ice shielded lakes of Greenland and Antarctica.

It is important to note that the discovery of this lake is not the first time water has been found on Mars. In fact, water has been found lingering in the Martian atmosphere, hiding in Martian polar caps, and seasonally, trickling down the slopes of Martian craters. However so, these findings of water do not compare in size to this lake discovered on the Red Planet.

Nonetheless, the discovery of this lake positively alters our perception of Mars. This finding creates room for great debate and sparks our curiosity in how we understand the celestial bodies whirling alongside us.

The story is still developing… More details to come.