Underground lake found at Mars' south pole, could mean life on the red planet

The European Mars Express spacecraft has possibly found an underground lake at the red planet's south pole.

A new paper published this week in the journal "Science" suggests liquid water was detected about a mile below the surface under an ice cap in the Planum Austale region, according to NASA.

The underground lake was detected using a special radar instrument called MARSIS, short for Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding.

The Italian MARSIS team authored the paper and explained how radar signals detected a “bright spot” that was later interpreted as liquid water, which scientists consider a requirement for life in the universe.

That picture, like an ultrasound, shows a salty lake on Mars, 12 miles long under the South Pole ice. On Earth, where there’s water, there’s life. Could be we’re not alone. https://t.co/6QNHvA4UfM Well done @esa, @NASA, @asc_csa! pic.twitter.com/flB7r1RgwY
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) July 25, 2018

"The bright spot seen in the MARSIS data is an unusual feature and extremely intriguing," NASA chief scientist Jim Green said. "It definitely warrants further study. Additional lines of evidence should be pursued to test the interpretation," he said.

"We hope to use other instruments to study it further in the future," Green said.

The Italian Space Agency led in the development of the MARSIS radar, but NASA provided half the instruments and the agency's Jet Propulsion Lab is helping manage it.