By In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have found a reservoir of liquid water deep within Mars’ rocky outer crust, marking the first time liquid water has been detected on the Red Planet. The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was made through a new analysis of data from NASA’s Mars InSight Lander.
The InSight Lander, which arrived on Mars in 2018, was equipped with a seismometer that recorded seismic activity, or “Mars quakes,” over four years. These seismic readings allowed scientists to study the planet’s internal movements, leading to the identification of “seismic signals” indicative of liquid water. While Mars has long been known to have frozen water at its poles and water vapor in its atmosphere, this is the first direct evidence of liquid water beneath the planet’s surface.
The seismic data revealed that the water is located at depths ranging from six to twelve miles (10 to 20 kilometers) below the Martian surface. “These are actually the same techniques we use to prospect for water on Earth, or to look for oil and gas,” explained Professor Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, a key researcher in the study.
The Week writes that despite their inconvenient depths, if the aquifers are there, they may “provide new insights into the dynamics of Mars’s desiccation“, said The Economist, and if Mars “ever was the abode of life“, they “may be the habitat of its last survivors“.
We “haven’t found any evidence for life on Mars“, said professor of planetary science Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, but “at least we have identified a place that should, in principle, be able to sustain life“.
Have you ever wanted to live on Mars? This latest discovery might bring the possibility closer. Exploring on The Conversation “what it would take” to transform Mars’ “barren landscape” into “a life-friendly world“, Sven Bilén explained that humans would need “liquid water, food, shelter and an atmosphere with enough oxygen to breathe and thick enough to retain heat and protect against radiation from the Sun.“
The discovery offers crucial insights into Mars’ water cycle, which is vital for understanding the planet’s climatic and geological history. “Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding the evolution of the climate, surface, and interior,” said Dr. Vashan Wright, lead researcher from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Mars, once home to rivers and lakes, has been a barren desert for the past three billion years. Much of its water was lost when the planet’s atmosphere dissipated into space. However, as Professor Manga pointed out, “much of our water is underground and there’s no reason for that not to be the case on Mars too.”
The presence of liquid water deep underground raises intriguing possibilities for future exploration, though it presents significant challenges. Drilling down to such depths, especially on Mars, would be a daunting task, even for ambitious space entrepreneurs
