NASA reveal , liquid water lake beneath polar ice cap

SO breaking news from NASA the proposed lakes of ice water found under the polar ice caps have been studied further and it has now been determined that there appear to be liquid water under the polar ice caps !
Previously this was thought to be stored as Ice under the surface of the red planet.

Liquid water found

What they believe to be a lake sits beneath the Red Planet's south polar ice cap, and is about 20km across. Previous research found possible signs of intermittent liquid water flowing on the martian surface, but this is the first sign of a persistent body of water on the planet in the present day. Lake beds like those explored by Nasa's Curiosity rover show water was present on the surface of Mars in the past. However, the planet's climate has since cooled due to its thin atmosphere, leaving most of its water locked up in ice. The discovery was made using Marsis, a radar instrument on board the Mars Express orbiter.

What does this mean

well the potential for microbal extremophile life to exist in this environment is more plausible !

We could see the discovery of a second genesis with this liquid water, and its closer than Europa !

What do you all think , is this just a brilliant scientific discovery which was bound to happen , or is this a drip feed of disclosure
to second genesis and complex life on mars!

I'd love to know if they "just found out" this or if they have this information for a long time and are releasing it slowly now.

People need to start waking up to the possibility that we are not special in the universe. Perhaps we came from Mars. Perhaps there's life everywhere in the universe.

NASA releasing information about life in other planets would shift the way we live in society in a way that could collapse the whole system. That's what makes me think that this isn't some breaking news. They're just releasing it slowly so no one jumps from the Empire State for not being that special.

a reply to: sapien82

What a possible find, it would seem life as we know it requires water to survive and thrive, what lies beneath is any ones guess, some infinetly more intelligent than mine. My 1st concern would be cross contamination though for both ourselves and any potential life forms on Mars, not saying there are any, but I do hope so , even though if there is any it is essentially just pond life, great more fish I dont eat enough earth fish to need space fish also

I hope the rest of the galaxy is ready for what we call the "human race" though, if there is other life could it be they hide so dam well because we are generally a bunch of fools with more tools and knowledge than we deserve.

a reply to: sapien82
Thanks for a source link; the other thread doesn't have even that.

Just to correct you that the news is not from NASA but from ESA - European Space Agency.

Interesting that this news is popping up on MSN, but I can't find any original source, such as at the Mars Express Orbiter site.

This is extremely exciting and important news!

originally posted by: wildespace
a reply to: sapien82
Thanks for a source link; the other thread doesn't have even that.

Just to correct you that the news is not from NASA but from ESA - European Space Agency.

Interesting that this news is popping up on MSN, but I can't find any original source, such as at the Mars Express Orbiter site.

This is extremely exciting and important news!

Radar Evidence of Subglacial Liquid Water on Mars

Abstract

The presence of liquid water at the base of the martian polar caps has long been suspected but not observed. We surveyed the Planum Australe region using the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) instrument, a low-frequency radar on the Mars Express spacecraft. Radar profiles collected between May 2012 and December 2015 contain evidence of liquid water trapped below the ice of the South Polar Layered Deposits. Anomalously bright subsurface reflections are evident within a well-defined, 20-kilometer-wide zone centered at 193°E, 81°S, which is surrounded by much less reflective areas. Quantitative analysis of the radar signals shows that this bright feature has high relative dielectric permittivity (>15), matching that of water-bearing materials. We interpret this feature as a stable body of liquid water on Mars.

Was gonna start a thread with this. Seen there was already two though.

originally posted by: vinifalou
I'd love to know if they "just found out" this or if they have this information for a long time and are releasing it slowly now.

Quote from the original source (which I just found)

The presence of liquid water at the base of the polar ice caps has long been suspected; after all, from studies on Earth, it is well known that the melting point of water decreases under the pressure of an overlying glacier. Moreover, the presence of salts on Mars could further reduce the melting point of water and keep the water liquid even at below-freezing temperatures.

But until now evidence from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument, MARSIS, the first radar sounder ever to orbit another planet, remained inconclusive.

It has taken the persistence of scientists working with this subsurface-probing instrument to develop new techniques in order to collect as much high-resolution data as possible to confirm their exciting conclusion.

www.esa.int...

They're anouncing it as they discover it, although sometimes it takes time to analyse old data.

a reply to: sapien82

I wonder how much more of an atmosphere would need to be viable for surface water and real habitation? Could it be created somehow?. Not total recall style but you get my question.

I know the lack of a magnetic field is probably the reason Mars lost its atmosphere, but it seems like it took 100's of Millions of years to do so.

To be precise, the lake isn't under the polar ice cap, but in the terrain near it:



Here's a closeup of the terrain where this subsurface lake is lying under:

a reply to: pavil

In order for Mars to have an atmosphere that requires a magnetosphere and to do that requires a moving molten iron core !
well if that is the currently held theory on how earth has a magnetosphere is due to the rotating molten iron core!

We would require the ability to geo-engineer on a planetary scale and since we cant even look after our own homeworld I very much doubt we will have that ability or desire to keep a planet alive, we barely give a # about earth never mind kick starting Mars magenetosphere !

I would love that to happen though a second genesis on mars , leading to terraforming !

Id heard from the "forgotten languages" group that we are simply here terraforming for another group anyway!

a reply to: wildespace

Great images !

They have likened the under ground lake to that of Lake Vostok in the antarctic
similar size

a reply to: wildespace

Aye no worries !

My bad on the NASA , when its ESA , I wish they would just stick together and unify their global budget and get us a species safety blanket!

a reply to: sapien82

Don’t you mean abiogenesis? If they find life on Mars, I think it secures that theory’s probability.

a reply to: sapien82

Our magneto sphere is not created by our iron core. It is created by the layer directly outside of that. I’ll try to find a link

youtu.be...

a reply to: Woodcarver

I do but in my laymans terms second genesis would do ! hahaha

thanks

I thought that the magnetosphere was created by the heat conductivity of the spinning iron core !
this was from what I learned In Geography so its probably old hat now
wasnt in higher geography since 1995 to 2000 hahhahah

a reply to: sapien82

Mars DOES have an atmosphere currently and HAD a much denser one in the past.

The deep Earth holds about the same amount of water as our oceans.

Should be a lot of water buried...

For anyone interested in Mars, there's a new netflix series called - guess what - MARS.

It meddles fiction with documentary, with the first human colony getting to Mars in 2036, and it goes back often to 2016 when the first missions started.

Very important participation such as Elon Musk, Nasa Administrators, etc.

It's all based on reality and they covered the finding of microbial life, I'd say they'll probably cover the finding of liquid water on the next season.

a reply to: Woodcarver

that video is amazing thanks !

so cool , see I was going off old data that it was molten , but the core is solid !

fantastic thanks woodcarver

originally posted by: pavil

Mars DOES have an atmosphere currently and HAD a much denser one in the past.

It seems life happens pretty much anytime conditions are right. It started very early in earth's history and even though earth wiped it mostly out a few times it came back in abundance.

With that said there most likely not much life on the surface of Mars, but there could be a vast amount buried in many bodies of water.

a reply to: pavil

thanks I am aware it has a weak atmosphere , much like the moon !

I was referring to it having an atmosphere like earth it would need what earth has and that would be impossible as mars has no real magnetosphere to hold the atmosphere from being blown away by solar wind!

interesting that mars has tectonic plate movement though!
So according to this article the plates are in a primitive state, meaning mars will continue to shift like earth
thats really cool , so much for being a "dead" planet

Mars place tectonic

Speaking on the fault line on the canyons and the two separate plates north and south!

Does Yin think there are Mars-quakes? "I think so," he said. "I think the fault is probably still active, but not every day. It wakes up every once in a while, over a very long duration — perhaps every million years or more."