If this hasn't been seen before, it's possible to think that it's not unusual. When ice freezes on a lake or the ocean, there's water underneath it, right?
Usually. But this is different. It's on Mars, and the water appears to be under the ice that is frozen on both poles. For a long time it was thought that the ice was solid, because Mars is cold. The new research indicates that there might be some liquid water down there, too.
Don't get too excited, it's probably not drinkable. But having water there is significant, because it adds more data to the pretty-much-proven concept that Mars had a lot more water once, on the surface, and that might have made the place hospitable to life. A long time ago.
New evidence for liquid water beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars
" “The combination of the new topographic evidence, our computer model results, and the radar data make it much more likely that at least one area of subglacial liquid water exists on Mars today, and that Mars must still be geothermally active in order to keep the water beneath the ice cap liquid,” said Professor Neil Arnold from Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute, who led the research."
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