ESA's Mars Express detects traces of Water hidden underneath the surface

The European Space Agency has confirmed that its Mars Express has detected traces of liquid water hidden below the South Pole of the planet.

The various dried out river channels and networks clearly depict the presence of water once on the surface. But due to the severe climatic changes occurring there the water has disappeared from the surface and may be probably below the crust. The different space missions from other space agencies have also revealed the presence of minerals ,found in water, on the surface of Mars. The 15-year old space explorer, Mars Express, has also added to its confirmation now.

The presence of water was discovered in the Planum Australe region using the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) instrument. This instrument works on low-frequency radar and altimeter. This instrument is capable of recording data from a distance of 800km above the surface of Mars.

Roberto Orosei,principal investigator of the MARSIS experiment and lead author of the paper published in the journal Science today. said,"This subsurface anomaly on Mars has radar properties matching water or water-rich sediments". He also added ,“This is just one small study area; it is an exciting prospect to think there could be more of these underground pockets of water elsewhere, yet to be discovered.” 

The scientists had investigated an area of 200 km and found deposits of ice and dust upto a depth of 1.5km from the surface at the South Pole. These served as a signal for the presence of lake of water down there. This discovery has lit up chances of survival on Mars and opened doors for future investigations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PSLV, The Backbone of India's Space Aspirations

Image
PSLV rocket (src:ISRO) After being long in the shackles of British Empire, when India restored freedom it had no idea as to how their dreams for having satellites of their own would be fulfilled. Earlier India took the help of the Russian Space Agency(Roscosmos) for starting its space related missions. India's first satellite Aryabhata was actually launched by Russia's Soyuz. But as the days passed by India felt the need of an indigenously developed launch vehicle. This requirement was completed by the introduction of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) in 1993. Journey of PSLV- The PSLV was introduced in 1993 and had its first launch in September,1993. The first launch was successful in its initial stages but failed in the later ones. The first and the second stage performed as expected but the third stage encountered a problem of attitude control. This prevented the establishment of the satellite in the orbit and the mission failed. An year later, after the...
Read more

An Unlucky Week for NASA as Two Space Probes Power Down

Image
NASA, the glittering name in the field of astronomy and space science, suffered two set backs this week as its Kepler and Dawn space missions come to an end. The end of the two space missions has lead to the creation of a vacuum in the field of astronomy. Kepler Mission Kepler Spacecraft src: nasa The Kepler mission was launched on 7 March, 2009 to observe the Cynus and Lyra constellation. The basic aim of the mission was to search for planets similar to Earth where life could be sustained. Kepler worked on the principle that there was a decrease in the intensity of light received by the Kepler when a planet orbiting the star under observation came in front of it. Kepler worked well and good till 2013 when two of the four reaction wheels, responsible for fixing the view of the lens towards the Cynus and Lyra constellation, broke. This left the space probe almost paralyzed and forced the scientists to search for ways to rejuvenate it. The Kepler then was reborn as K2 miss...
Read more

Black Hole, An Unsolved Mystery

Image
Representative Image Credits- Bronzwaer/Davelaar/Moscibrodzka/Falcke/Radboud University  src: eso The universe is a realm of various galaxies, concealing in it the unsolved mysteries of its creation and evolution of life. One among them is the Black Hole . According to scientists a black hole, as the name suggests, is a cavity in space which sucks in all matter from the surrounding and condenses it at its center. It is one of the most controversial and highly researched mystery that the Universe has. What is a Black Hole ? A Black Hole, as stated above, is the giant hungry monster which keeps on sucking matter from the surrounding to satiate its hunger. A black hole has a very strong gravitational pull which is capable of tearing matter apart. The gravitational pull is so strong that no matter, not even light, can escape the boundaries of the black hole. The scientists have not been able to practically see a black hole due to lack of a proper telescope(diameter that of t...
Read more