Mars’ lake of water fuels hope for life

A 20km-long lake of liquid water has been detected under the polar ice caps of Mars, raising hopes that life could exist beneath the surface.

Scientists operating groundpenetrating radar on board the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, which is orbiting the planet, announced the finding yesterday, ending decades of speculation. The huge body of water exists about 1.5km beneath the southern Martian ice cap and appears similar to Lake Vostok, which was found 3.8km beneath Antarctica and contained more than 3500 species.

“This thrilling discovery is a highlight for planetary science and will contribute to our understanding of the evolution of Mars, the history of water on our neighbour planet and its habitability,” said Dmitri Titov, project scientist of ESA’s Mars Express, which launched in 2003.

“The long duration of Mars Express, and the exhausting effort made by the radar team to overcome many analytical challenges, enabled this much-awaited result, demonstrating that the mission and its payload still have a great science potential.”

Scientists have long suspected that liquid water was once abundant on Mars because of evidence of dried-up lake and river beds. It was also suspected water may exist under the polar caps because the melting point of water decreases beneath a glacier.

The radar investigation showed that the south polar region of Mars is made of many layers of ice and dust down to a depth of about 1.5km but then changes to the signature of water. The paper is published in the journal