When I was a kid in Nebraska, I was fascinated with the sky. During the day, using the aircraft spotter books my uncle gave me, I scoured it looking for German or Japanese aircraft even after the Second World War was over. I never saw one but if I had I would have recognized a Stuka. At night I looked at the sky to find the Big Dipper, the North Star, Orion's Belt and the most recognizable planet, Venus. Occasionally the red planet, Mars, was pointed out to me. My imagination ran rampant. Mars, how cool! Martians? Cooler yet. Buck Rogers was my favorite comic strip.

I thought there had to be Martians because there were even canals on Mars that the Martians obviously had constructed. Then in 1947 came the report that a flying saucer had crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. Martians? It was soon determined that what had crashed was a weather balloon although to this day, there are people who still believe that it was really a craft from space, and its crash was covered up by a government conspiracy. I was sorely disappointed when astronomers determined that there was no life on Mars. Buck Rogers, you misled me!

In 2004 the Rover Opportunity exploring Mars determined definitively that water at one time existed on the surface. In 2005, radar data determined that there were large amounts of water ice at both Martian polar regions. However, scientists know that liquid water can't exist on the Martian surface. Why? Because the Martian atmospheric pressure is so low that it would just be lost to space. Scientists also have concluded that at some time in Mars' geologic history, it is very likely that the atmospheric pressure was greater and the surface warmer, and that liquid water did exist. To me, this means that life in some form probably existed on Mars in the geologic past.

During a three-year study published this year, scientists using radar from a spacecraft orbiting Mars determined that there exists about a mile below the Martian south polar ice cap, a body of extremely salty water that appears to be 12 miles wide. They estimate the depth to be more than three feet.

Roberto Orosel of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy led a study later published in the journal, Science. The study raised the interesting possibility that even in such a very cold, saline environment, however far-fetched, some form of life could have existed or even persisted. Orosel has been quoted, "This could be, perhaps, the first habitat we find on Mars."

This study has not been corroborated but it may well be very soon. A lander mission is due on Mars in November. It contains equipment that should be able to help corroborate the findings of Orosel's team.

When I think about this discovery, I'm almost as excited as when I was a kid. Liquid water really does exist on Mars. Because of that, there is a chance, however slight, that some form of life, most likely microbial, might exist on Mars. Hopefully, I'll know the answer in my lifetime.

Note: Information in this article was derived from a July 24, 2018 article in The Washington Post and from Wikipedia.