Lights and shadows on the hidden lakes of Mars

One day, humans will never set foot on Mars very far, with a long-term goal of building permanent colonies on the Red World. But for this to be possible, we still have to unravel some mysteries about our planetary neighbor. Starting with a critical component:Water.

Scientists have long agreed that Mars was once a watery world. Three years ago, in the summer of 2018, he was there First, pioneering confirmation of a lake under the south polar ice cap of Mars. The discovery made by an Italian team thanks to radar Made in italy Marquis Installed on board the European probe March Express, It was then Confirmed last year by an international study led by the University of Rome Tree, which showed even a complex Underground saltwater lake system.

But the mysteries of Martian meanders are far from over. a A new study by the University of Arizona and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Taking further down the available data with good browsing 44 thousand notes by Marsis Registered in the last 15 years. What appeared is a more complex picture, with dozens of reactions radar Similar to those already identified as buried lakes. According to the study authors, liquid water is more common than expected under the south pole of Mars, or these signs point to something else.

As for the second option, it is inclined Another study led by the University of Arizona But independently of the first, according to which Marsis data can also be explained by the presence of ClayAnd the metal metallic or again ice salty. However, the same scientists call for caution: The study’s first author, featured on Geophysical Research LettersIn fact, he states that his team’s goal is to step back and assess whether there are other materials capable of causing the light reflections that Marsis recorded, in addition to liquid water.

So far, the hypothesis of the existence of liquid and salty water in the earth’s interior is still confirmed, even if these two new studies certainly invite us to investigate further into the mysteries of the Earth. Lakes of Mars hidden.