{"id":77263,"date":"2020-09-28T21:50:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T18:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/recently-discovered-salty-lakes-on-mars-could-be-teeming-with-alien-life\/"},"modified":"2020-09-28T21:50:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T18:50:50","slug":"recently-discovered-salty-lakes-on-mars-could-be-teeming-with-alien-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/recently-discovered-salty-lakes-on-mars-could-be-teeming-with-alien-life\/","title":{"rendered":"#Recently discovered \u2018salty lakes\u2019 on Mars could be teeming with alien life"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Recently discovered \u2018salty lakes\u2019 on Mars could be teeming with alien life<\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

\n The team of researchers who discovered a single lake beneath the surface of Mars back in 2018<\/a> just published a new paper admitting they were wrong. Instead of one lake on Mars, the team thinks there are several.<\/p>\n

This makes for what could be the most compelling evidence for extraterrestrial life we\u2019ve seen yet.<\/p>\n

According to a paper<\/a> published in Nature Astronomy today,\u00a0the massive 20-kilometer subsurface lake on Mars the group discovered is part of a cluster of lakes beneath the surface of the red planet:<\/p>\n

Our results strengthen the claim of the detection of a liquid water body at Ultimi Scopuli and indicate the presence of other wet areas nearby. We suggest that the waters are hypersaline perchlorate brines, known to form at Martian polar regions and thought to survive for an extended period of time on a geological scale at below-eutectic temperatures.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Using data generated from the European Space Agency\u2019s Mars Express orbiter, the team initially discovered the first body of water by examining \u2018bright spots\u2019 that showed up on special RADAR images.<\/p>\n

The big idea here is that, much like Earth\u2019s many subsurface bodies of water, Martian underground lakes are likely caused by extreme pressure from surface glaciers. In the past, such ideas have been dismissed due to the fact that Mars is much colder than our planet. But the astronomers who discovered the Martian subsurface water bodies believe they\u2019re able to remain in liquid form due to being extremely salty, thus giving them a much lower freezing point.<\/p>\n

The news<\/a> that there could be several bodies of water beneath the red planet\u2019s surface is exciting, but we should take these briny lakes with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n

Firstly, we\u2019re not sure there actually are subsurface lakes on Mars. It\u2019s possible there\u2019s another explanation for the \u201cbright spots,\u201d although it bears mention that the team corroborated the data using multiple indicators this time around so it\u2019s as legit as it can get without sending a team of robots with shovels.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the rub. As far as we know, humans don\u2019t have the kind of space-faring drilling equipment necessary to get to the literal bottom of Mars\u2018 lake situation so we\u2019ll be stuck analyzing data for at least a few more years.<\/p>\n

This, of course, also doesn\u2019t mean there are little green people living in underground caves on Mars. But it very well could mean that Mars\u00a0is teeming with life. There are plenty of simple life forms that could survive in such an environment.<\/p>\n

In fact, it app<\/a>ears as though the Martian salt lakes would make a suitable habitat<\/a> for at least one animal we know of: the lovable, resilient tardigrade.<\/p>\n