NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has shed new light on a long-standing Martian mystery, but the answer is not what scientists had hoped for. For years, researchers have been fascinated by a suspicious feature at the Red Planet's south pole, which was thought to be an underground lake. However, a recent study using advanced radar techniques has revealed that this area may actually be a layer of rock and dust.
The discovery was made possible by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which employed a special maneuver called a "very large roll" to enhance the power of its Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument. This allowed the radar signal to penetrate deeper underground, providing clearer images of the subsurface. The technique has proved so effective that scientists are eager to use it at other previously observed sites where buried ice may exist.
Led by Gareth Morgan and Than Putzig, researchers had made multiple attempts to observe the suspected lake, but were unable to detect any signals using standard radar techniques. They partnered with the spacecraft's operations team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to develop the very large roll capability, which requires careful planning to keep the spacecraft safe.
Using this new technique, MRO detected a faint signal from the area suspected of hosting a buried lake, but it was significantly weaker than the signal received by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter using its Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument in 2018. The team had hypothesized that the lake could be briny, with high salt content lowering water's freezing temperature.
However, the new data suggests that something else is causing the quirky radar signal detected by MARSIS. Morgan and Putzig are cautious not to dismiss the lake hypothesis entirely, but say that it becomes increasingly difficult to support the idea of a liquid water lake given the latest findings.
The team is now excited to apply this new technique to other scientifically interesting regions of Mars, such as Medusae Fossae, a sprawling geologic formation on the planet's equator. The potential discovery of water resources near the Martian equator makes it an attractive location for future human exploration, with the equator being exposed to more sunlight and warmer temperatures.
The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters on November 17 and highlights the power of advanced radar techniques in uncovering the secrets of Mars' subsurface.
The discovery was made possible by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which employed a special maneuver called a "very large roll" to enhance the power of its Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument. This allowed the radar signal to penetrate deeper underground, providing clearer images of the subsurface. The technique has proved so effective that scientists are eager to use it at other previously observed sites where buried ice may exist.
Led by Gareth Morgan and Than Putzig, researchers had made multiple attempts to observe the suspected lake, but were unable to detect any signals using standard radar techniques. They partnered with the spacecraft's operations team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to develop the very large roll capability, which requires careful planning to keep the spacecraft safe.
Using this new technique, MRO detected a faint signal from the area suspected of hosting a buried lake, but it was significantly weaker than the signal received by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter using its Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument in 2018. The team had hypothesized that the lake could be briny, with high salt content lowering water's freezing temperature.
However, the new data suggests that something else is causing the quirky radar signal detected by MARSIS. Morgan and Putzig are cautious not to dismiss the lake hypothesis entirely, but say that it becomes increasingly difficult to support the idea of a liquid water lake given the latest findings.
The team is now excited to apply this new technique to other scientifically interesting regions of Mars, such as Medusae Fossae, a sprawling geologic formation on the planet's equator. The potential discovery of water resources near the Martian equator makes it an attractive location for future human exploration, with the equator being exposed to more sunlight and warmer temperatures.
The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters on November 17 and highlights the power of advanced radar techniques in uncovering the secrets of Mars' subsurface.
... I mean, who wouldn't want to discover evidence of liquid water on the Red Planet? It's like, one of the biggest mysteries of our time! But, I guess you can't always get what you want 
. The fact that it might just be a layer of rock and dust is kinda cool, though... I mean, it shows how advanced radar techniques are getting 
. Now they're gonna go after other sites on Mars, like Medusae Fossae, which could potentially have some awesome water resources. That's the kind of stuff that'll get humans excited about space exploration again!
, but at the same time I'm like, really disappointed 
. I mean, who wants to deal with all that uncertainty? The fact that scientists were so sure about a lake under the Martian surface and it turns out it's just rock and dust... okay 
, no biggie, right? 
. Using radar to look at subsurface features on Mars is like, whoa 
.
. Maybe there's just... something else going on? Like, a different type of lake or something 
.
. Are they sure it wasn't just some other factor at play? And what about the temperature stuff? Is that really a thing on Mars 
?
. I can imagine how exciting and disappointing this must be for them, especially after all the research and effort they put into it 
. But you know what? This doesn't mean their work is in vain 
. It just means they got to try a new technique that's going to help us learn even more about Mars 
. The fact that it might be a good location for future human exploration is just so cool 
Sometimes you gotta dig deeper than you think u need 2, NASA's new radar technique showed us that even when we think we've found something cool, it might be just a layer of rock & dust 
That's like, super important 4 future human exploration. So, even though the answer wasn't what we hoped 4, it still led to a bigger discovery 
I'm actually kinda bummed it's not what scientists hoped for, but at least we got new info 
Even if it's not a lake, maybe it's like... salt deposits or something? 
Interesting that they're still gonna use this technique elsewhere, Medusae Fossae sounds cool! 
. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shedding light on that Martian mystery... and what do we get? Not what scientists were hoping for 
It's always great to see space agencies pushing the boundaries of what's possible, even if it doesn't lead to the discovery we were expecting 
. Now, let's hope they can get this technique to work on other sites and maybe, just maybe, uncover some actual water resources near the Martian equator 
to get more info about mars' subsurface 
. And now it's like... maybe not? Maybe it's just some old rock and dust or whatever 
.
. But now I'm curious more than ever - what else is hiding beneath the Martian surface? 
I'm kinda surprised by this news tbh... all those years we've been thinking that lake might be real 
. The very large roll technique is pretty cool 
, and if there's water nearby, that'd be huge for future human exploration 
.
. The fact that the radar signal was weaker than expected kinda blows the whole briny lake theory outta the water 
. But, you know, don't write NASA off just yet 
. They're still stoked to try out this new technique on other sites and maybe, just maybe, they'll stumble upon something awesome 
. The equator region is definitely an interesting spot to explore, especially if it's got water resources hidden beneath the surface 
!
Mars is still a mystery 
. It's all about collaboration, right? They partnered with NASA to develop this new technique 
. Now they're gonna try it out at other sites where ice might be hiding under the surface 
.