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Image depicting Mars as salty ponds discovered indicate possibility of life on Mars, New technology can extract fuel, oxygen from salty Mars water

Life on Mars may be possible as scientists discover salty ponds

 

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Scientists are working hard in trying to understand if life on Mars exists. Two years ago, scientists detected a salty lake under the surface of Mars’ southern ice cap.

Now, new research has found more evidence of the lake, and also found a number of smaller salty “ponds” nearby. This increases the possibility there may be life on Mars.

For this new study, Italian scientists used the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft.

Mars Express is a space exploration mission that is exploring the planet Mars. It arrived in Mars in 2003 and it is still active. It is the second-longest surviving, active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, behind only NASA’s still active 2001 Mars Odyssey.

In the study, the MARSIS radar covered a larger area of the Martian surface and got more data, helping the scientists to confirm the previous finding.

As per the new data, the lake under Mars’ surface is believed to be about 30 by 20 kilometres in area. The nearby ponds are of different sizes and separated from the main lake by strips of dry land.

The lake and its surrounding ponds are still liquid as they are “hypersaline,”. This means they contain lots of salts. It could also support microbial life on Mars.

The discovery is important because it helps us understand more about the Mars climate and chemical makeup.

Scientists want future Mars missions to focus on this region to get more information.

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