New evidence arrives on the existence of liquid water under the south pole of Mars first identified in 2018 by the Italian study published in the journal Science.
The confirmation comes from new analyzes published in the journal Nature Astronomy by a research group led by the University of Cambridge using a completely different method than that of 4 years ago.
"On behalf of all my colleagues I can say that we are extremely happy that an independent method confirms the plausibility of the existence of liquid water on Mars", commented to ANSA Enrico Flamini, today at the University of Chieti-Pescara and in 2018 one of the leaders of the historic discovery of liquid water on Mars made together with colleagues from the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the National Institute of Astrophysics (Inaf), Roma Tre University, Sapienza and Gabriele d'Annunzio (Pescara) and the National Research Council (Cnr).
That discovery was based on data from the Marsis radar, aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express satellite.
Independent confirmation of the existence of liquid water comes today from a laser altimeter installed aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor satellite, which was able to measure variations in the height of the ice covering the Martian South Pole.
These variations, the authors of the research note, indicate the existence of large pockets of liquid water under the ice layers, as indicated by the Italian study of 2018.
In recent years, more than one study had questioned the results presented by Italian researchers.
"The new study, with a completely different method, today reaches the same conclusions - observed Flamini - thus disavowing approximate studies made by others, who contested our work".
