00:02When picturing alien life on Mars, what comes to mind is likely bacteria or simple organisms clinging to life on
00:09the surface of the red planet.
00:10But now experts are saying that a better place to look for it might be under the Martian surface.
00:15According to researchers for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute or SETI in California, there's ice that is melting under
00:22the Martian surface.
00:23But how do we know that and why is it important?
00:25Well, the researchers believe that subsurface ice is melting and mixing with permafrost.
00:29Creating unstable terrain that's causing landslides.
00:32Those landslides, which the researchers say can travel at around 225 miles per hour, are thought to be the reason
00:38for the trenches and cliffs on the red planet.
00:40And we can see those.
00:41And of course water is crucial for the survival of life.
00:44Meaning water under the surface could mean life is down there as well.
00:47In an environment some say might be much like that of Antarctica.
00:50So how does ice melt on subzero Mars?
00:52The answer is salts.
00:53In a lab, researchers recreated Martian temperatures and conducted a study on regolith-like substances made of chlorine salts and
01:00sulfates.
01:01Finding that a slushy water mixture could be produced even in temperatures of down to minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
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