Scientists have made a major breakthrough by discovering a reservoir of liquid water deep beneath the surface of Mars. This finding, based on data from NASA’s Mars InSight Lander, marks the first direct evidence of liquid water on the Red Planet.
The Mars InSight Lander, which has been on Mars since 2018, carried a seismometer to record Mars quakes, or vibrations from the planet. Over four years, scientists analyzed these seismic signals to detect the presence of liquid water hidden about 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 kilometers) beneath Mars’ rocky crust.
Before this discovery, evidence of water on Mars was limited to frozen reserves at the poles and trace amounts of vapor in the atmosphere. This new revelation, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides the first direct evidence of liquid water on Mars.
“Understanding the Martian water cycle is crucial for comprehending the planet’s climate, surface, and interior evolution,” said Dr. Vashan Wright, the lead researcher from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Professor Michael Manga from the University of California, Berkeley, who also worked on the research, emphasized the importance of this discovery in understanding Mars’ past.
“This finding helps answer the longstanding question of what happened to Mars’ ancient water,” he noted.
Mars’ surface features, such as ancient river channels and lake beds, suggest that liquid water once flowed abundantly on the planet. However, Mars has been dry for around three billion years, with much of its water lost to space as its atmosphere thinned.
Professor Manga mentioned that Mars might still have significant amounts of underground water, potentially forming a global layer if distributed evenly.
Despite the exciting discovery, accessing these deep water reservoirs presents significant challenges. The reservoirs are located 10 to 20 kilometers underground, making them difficult to reach with current technology.
Professor Manga humorously highlighted the difficulties in drilling to such depths, saying, “It’s sequestered 10-20km deep in the crust. Drilling a hole 10km deep on Mars – even for [Elon] Musk – would be difficult.”
The discovery also boosts hopes for finding life on Mars.
“Without liquid water, you don’t have life. If there are habitable environments on Mars, they may be found deep underground where this water is located,” Professor Manga said.
The Mars InSight mission, which concluded in December 2022, has provided crucial data about the Martian interior. With these new insights, scientists continue to explore Mars’ potential for life and its geological history, marking a significant advance in our understanding of the planet.