Scientists discover first-ever liquid water lake on Mars
Washington, July 25 : In a tantalising find, a team of Italian researchers on Wednesday announced they have discovered a large saltwater lake under ice near the south pole on Red Planet - raising a possibility that life may be there on Mars in some form.
The lake under the Martian ice stretches 20 kms across, said the team led by Roberto Orosei from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna in a paper detailed in the prestigious journal Science.
The lake is about 1.5 km beneath Mars's surface and is at least one metre deep.
The detection was made using the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft.
If confirmed, it would be the first confirmed news of liquid water ever detected on the Red Planet.
"We discovered water on Mars," said Orosei.
In 2015, in the first-ever definitive signs of the presence of liquid water on the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured strong evidence for seasonal flows of liquid salty water on the Martian surface.
In the new discovery, between May 2012 and December 2015, Orosei and colleagues used MARSIS to survey a region called Planum Australe, located in the southern ice cap of Mars.
They obtained 29 sets of radar samplings, mapping out an area exhibiting a very sharp change in its associated radar signal, about 1.5 km below the surface of the ice and extending sideways about 20 km.
The radar profile of this area is similar to that of lakes of liquid water found beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets on Earth, suggesting that there is a subglacial lake at this location on Mars.
"Although the temperature is expected to be below the freezing point of pure water, Orosei noted that dissolved salts of magnesium, calcium, and sodium -- known to be present in Martian rocks -- could be dissolved in the water to form a brine," said the study.
"Together with the pressure of the overlying ice, this lowers the melting point, allowing the lake to remain liquid, as happens on Earth," the researchers noted.
According to the journal Nature, if further studies confirm the existence of a lake, it could open new avenues for investigating Mars.
"It begins a new line of inquiry that's very exciting," Jim Green, NASA's chief scientist, was quoted as saying.
Nearly 4.5 billion years ago, Mars had six and a half times as much water as it does now and a thicker atmosphere.
But most of this water has disappeared into space and the reason is that Mars no longer has global magnetic fields, like on the Earth.
The magnetic field protects the Earth's atmosphere against degradation from energy rich particles from the Sun.
Orosei and team wrote: "There is no reason to conclude that the presence of subsurface water on Mars is limited to a single location."
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Pahalgam attack: Kharge, Rahul speak with HM Shah, J-K CM; demand justice for victims' families
New Delhi (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi have spoken with Home Minister Amit Shah, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and senior party leaders from the union territory to get an update on Tuesday's horrific Pahalgam terror attack, asserting that the families of the victims deserve justice.
Kharge urged the central government to talk to all the political parties to ensure security in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress chief said that late on Tuesday night, he spoke to home minister Shah, J-K Chief Minister Abdullah, and senior J-K Congress leaders about the despicable carnage in Pahalgam that killed at least 26 people, mostly tourists.
"The perpetrators of this heinous terror attack must not go unpunished. The innocent victims must get justice," Kharge said in a post on X.
"Unity in action in the wake of adversity is the need of the hour. This cross-border terror attack should be responded to with an adequate and resolute reply," he said.
"Government of India must talk to all the political parties to ensure security in Jammu and Kashmir and make every possible effort to ensure the safety of tourists," Kharge added.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also said he spoke to Shah, Abdullah, and J-K Congress chief Tariq Karra about the horrific terror attack in Pahalgam to get an update on the situation.
The Congress leader, who's currently on a visit to the US, asserted that the families of the victims deserve justice and "our fullest support".
"Spoke with HM Amit Shah, J-K CM Omar Abdullah, and J-K PCC President Tariq Karra about the horrific Pahalgam terror attack. Received an update on the situation," he said in a post on X.
On Tuesday, the Congress demanded the government to take accountability for the deadly terror attack instead of "making hollow claims" on the situation being normal in Jammu and Kashmir, saying an all-party meeting should be called to take all political parties into confidence.
The opposition party denounced the terror attack as a "blot on humanity" and said it should not go "unanswered effectively".
Terrorists struck a prime tourist location at Pahalgam in south Kashmir on Tuesday, killing at least 26 people and injuring several others, according to officials.
The deceased included two foreigners -- from the UAE and Nepal -- and two locals, officials said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Abdullah described the terror attack as "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years".
Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the news of tourists being killed and injured in the "cowardly" terrorist attack in Pahalgam was "extremely condemnable" and "heartbreaking".
"I express my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and hope for the speedy recovery of the injured," he said.
"The whole country is united against terrorism. Instead of making hollow claims on the situation being normal in Jammu and Kashmir, the government should now take accountability and take concrete steps so that such barbaric incidents do not happen in the future and innocent Indians do not lose their lives like this," the Congress leader said.
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