A network of hidden lakes discovered on Mars

Mars is well - known for its red and cold landscape in the desert.

The whole planet is covered with seemingly endless deserts. Although there may be large quantities of ice in polar regions, until recently it was thought to have no running water.

But scientists made an unbelievable discovery in 2018 they found evidence of the existence of a large water reservoir at the South Pole in Mars.

And now a whole network of smaller lakes has been discovered under the layer of southern polar ice, which means that the first discovered lake is not a unique case or an abnormality in the Red Planet environment.

The existence of a single sub-array lake can be attributed to ad-hoc conditions such as the presence of volcanoes under a layer of ice or any other unique situation for a particular area. But the discovery of the entire lake system suggests that the process of forming them is relatively simple and perhaps even common to Mars”, said geophysicist Elena Pettinelli from Rome University Three in Italy.

The first lake under the glacier in Mars, or a lake hidden under an ice, was seen by the Mars Express space shuttle a little over two years ago.

Using the MARIS device on the ship, scientists analyzed radio waves from the surface and determined the view of topography. Experts use the same technique on Earth when searching for lakes under glaciers in Antarctica.

Scientists have continued their research after this first discovery, and recently found three new areas -- very “reflective”> In other words, there seems to be a network of lakes hidden under glaciers not far from the original lake.

“in an underground environment, such strong signal rejection is associated with the presence of running water. There are no other mechanisms that can create such strong anomalies”, Pettinelli said.