Liquid Water on Mars: Lakes Might Not Be Liquid After All
It’s a huge step back in our search for alien life.
Transcript
00:00For years, planetary scientists and astronomers have been pretty sure that
00:07under the southern ice cap on the Martian surface lies large reserves of
00:11liquid water. That's because Science Alert reports when radar signals were
00:14fired at the area back in 2018, they hit something extremely radar reflective
00:18just under a mile below the surface of the planet. And when more radar signals
00:22were fired at other areas, the results were the same, leading experts to believe
00:26this was probably a vast network of underwater lakes. But now those hopes may
00:30be evaporating. Experts say the region is far too cold for water to stay in liquid
00:34form, with some geophysicists adding that the water would need either a local heat
00:38source or be extremely salty. And since Mars is no longer volcanically active
00:42and the surface doesn't point to salty minerals being in high supply, that's
00:46unlikely. So what was the radar reflective substance? According to
00:49computer simulations, probably just frozen clay. Frozen water will no doubt
00:53be useful for humans living on the red planet. However, it is much less likely to
00:57harbor living organisms, meaning the trail in the search for life on Mars
01:01just went cold.