Debate over the existence of underground water on Mars

Lately, there has been a continual increase in the debate over the existence of underground water on Mars amongst scientists across the world. While some agree on that fact that the underground water cannot exist on Mars due to the extreme cold temperature on Mars, others debate on the possibility of the latest findings for newly found liquid deposits near the Martian south pole.

Geophysicist Daniel Lalich of Cornell University commented on the fact that the only way to be certainly sure about the subject matter would be to drill 1.6 kilometers beneath the Martian surface.

“It’s not going to happen anytime soon. But if we conclusively want to know, then [drilling] might be the only way.” The existence of subsurface lakes was proposed back in 2018 and 2020, suggesting that bright radar reflections observed by the Mars express probe were caused by deposits of liquid water. The supposed water was thought to heated by the interior of planet, and was further traced to beneath the frozen layers of ice and dust across the maritan south pole.