---
title: "Scientists Just Found Three More Reservoirs of Liquid Water on Mars"
description: "The Italian scientists who found an undergound lake beneath the south pole of Mars revisited their data — and uncovered three more."
date: "2020-09-28"
modified: "2020-09-28"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/found-three-more-reservoirs-liquid-water-mars"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Mars"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "mars"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
  - "water"
---

# Scientists Just Found Three More Reservoirs of Liquid Water on Mars

![The Italian scientists who found an undergound lake beneath the south pole of Mars revisited their data — and uncovered three more.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/found-three-more-reservoirs-liquid-water-mars.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/JPL\</em\>*

## Dowsing Rod

For what seems like a [barren desert world](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-dust-storms-mars-water-space>), Mars is shockingly wet.

A team of Italian scientists says it found three new underground lakes near the south pole of Mars, bringing the total number of hidden bodies of liquid water up to four, *[MIT Technology Review ](<https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/28/1008958/there-might-be-even-more-underground-reservoirs-of-liquid-water-on-mars/>)*[reports](<https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/28/1008958/there-might-be-even-more-underground-reservoirs-of-liquid-water-on-mars/>). The liquid water probably wouldn't be of much use to any future Martian colonists, but it's still a valuable discovery. If there were any extraterrestrial life on Mars, these underground lakes would be a great place to look.

## Back For More

The same Italian scientists made headlines [two years ago](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/martian-lake-liquid-water>) when they found the first lake, *MIT Tech Review* reports. This time, they spotted the others after revisiting the data gathered by a radar antenna on a Mars orbiter funded by NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ISA), [according to research](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1200-6>) published Monday in the journal *Nature Astronomy*.

This time, they used new radar tricks to distinguish between wet and dry conditions tested out in Antarctica and Greenland to find the new reservoirs, which *MIT Tech* reports are all fairly similar in size and composition to the first one.

## Hard Pass

Unfortunately for any future Mars explorers looking for a quick drink, the water is almost certainly an extremely salty brine — otherwise it would have frozen into a giant block of ice, *MIT Tech* reports.

So it wouldn't taste too refreshing, but the Italian scientists suspect that the lakes would make a great starting point in the hunt for any theoretical Martian life.

**READ MORE:** [There might be even more underground reservoirs of liquid water on Mars](<https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/28/1008958/there-might-be-even-more-underground-reservoirs-of-liquid-water-on-mars/>) \[*MIT Technology Review*\]

**More on Mars:** *[There's a Huge Subterranean Lake of Liquid Water on Mars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/martian-lake-liquid-water>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)