Water Is Buried Beneath Martian Landscape, Study Says

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NEW YORK (AP) - A huge lake of salty water appears to be buried deep in Mars, a new study says. Experts believe this raises the possibility of finding life on the red planet.

Researchers analyzed radar signals collected over three years by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft, which probed an area close to the Martian south pole.

In this handout image released January 13, 2004 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the east hills, a potential destination for the rover Spirit, are shown in the distance about 2 to3 kilometers (1 to 2 miles) away. Spirit and an identical rover, Opportunity, scheduled to land on the opposite side of the Red Planet January 24, are part of the $820 million Mars Exploration Rover project. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

Their results suggest that a 12-mile-wide (20 kilometers) reservoir lies under ice that's about a mile (1.5 kilometers) thick. They do not know whether it's an underground pool or just a layer of sludge.

Water is essential to life as we know it. Scientists have long sought to prove that the liquid is present on Mars.

Mars