In a revolutionary discovery, scientists have found evidence of vast underground reservoirs of liquid water on Mars. Based on seismic data from NASA’s Insight lander, geophysicists think that these hidden reservoirs could cover the planet’s surface up to two kilometers deep, which is enough to fill seas.
This discovery tells us a lot about Mars’ geological past and its ability to support life, even though the water is stuck in tiny cracks and pores deep in the planet’s crust.
oceans that were hidden below the surface
The Insight lander, which arrived on Mars in 2018, collected seismic data that showed a lot of groundwater between 11.5 and 20 kilometers (7 to 13 miles) below the surface of Mars. It is thought that these reservoirs are stuck inside fractured igneous rock, which is the same kind of rock that Earth’s magma forms when it cools down.
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The amount of water is so big that if it were at the top, it would make oceans. However, getting to it for human use is very hard because of how deep and rough the Martian crust is.
Mars’s geological history
This finding goes against the idea that a lot of Mars’s ancient water vanished into space. It seems more likely that a lot of this water seeped deep into Mars’ rock and has been there for billions of years. This discovery is very important for learning about the planet’s climate past and how its surface has changed over time.
Vashan Wright, a former postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and now an assistant professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, says, “Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding how the climate, surface, and interior have changed over time.” By finding water and guessing how much there is, scientists can learn more about the planet’s past conditions and whether it could support life.
The fact that there is drinkable water on Mars, even deep underground, makes it more likely that there could be life there. On Earth, there is life in some of the harshest places, like deep underground and at the bottom of seas, where there is water. These places often have a lot of microorganisms, which makes me think that Mars might have similar conditions that support life.
Earth and planetary science professor Michael Manga at UC Berkeley says that these conditions below the surface might be good for life. “Water is important for life as we know it.” Manga said, “I don’t see why [the underground reservoir] isn’t a place where people could live.” Even though there is no clear proof of life on Mars, this discovery points to a good area to explore in the future.
Problems with Getting to Mars’ Water
Even though this finding has exciting implications, we currently don’t have the technology to get to the water below Mars. Even with the most modern drilling tools, it is very hard to get to the reservoirs because they are so deep.
It’s hard to drill that deep on Earth, and it’s even harder to do on Mars because of the way things are set up and the technology used. The water is also spread out in small holes in the rock, which makes extraction even harder.
Due to these problems, the water might not be useful for future human colonies, but the finding still tells us a lot about Mars’s subsurface. It tells future teams how to explore the inside of the planet.
The Insight lander’s mission, which finished in 2022, went above and beyond expectations by giving us a lot of information about the inside of Mars. The lander picked up on quakes, meteor strikes, and volcanic activity on Mars.
These events created seismic waves that scientists used to study the crust, mantle, and core of the planet. These discoveries not only help us understand the thickness and make-up of Mars’ crust, but they also give us a hint about the temperature of the planet’s mantle, which tells us about its volcanic past.
An earlier study using the Insight data showed that the Martian crust probably doesn’t have much water ice above a depth of 5 kilometers, which went against what was thought before. This means that if there is frozen groundwater, it is probably mostly near the poles. But new information about the lower crust shows that the middle layer is full of liquid water, and there may be more of it than was thought before.
Finding huge underground water reserves on Mars is a big step forward in our knowledge of the Red Planet. Even though people can’t get to the water right now, it gives
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