Water has been discovered on Mars that is potentially capable of supporting life.
New seismic data from NASA’s Insight rover suggests deep, porous rock filled with “oceans” of liquid water that scientists estimate would cover the entire red planet to a depth of around a mile, and it has been located 12 miles beneath the planet’s surface.
However, it’s currently too deep to drill into with existing technology, posing a challenge for any future Martian colony. It is believed that oceans disappeared from the surface of Mars over three billion years ago.
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(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech / SWNS)
American geophysicists argue that the underground reservoir won’t be much use to future colonists as it’s situated in tiny cracks and pores in rock in the middle of the Martian crust, between 11.5 kilometres (seven miles) and 20 kms (12.5 miles) below the surface. Drilling a hole just one mile deep is a significant challenge, even on Earth.
The researchers’ findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), do pinpoint another promising place to look for life on Mars, if the reservoir can be accessed. The discovery also helps answer questions about Mars’ geological history.
Dr Vashan Wright stated: “Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding the evolution of the climate, surface and interior. A useful starting point is to identify where water is and how much is there.”
(Image: James Tuttle Keane and Aaron Rod / SWNS)
Dr Wright from the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and his team have used a mathematical model, similar to those used on Earth to map underground aquifers and oil fields, to study Mars. They believe that the seismic data from Insight suggests a deep layer of fractured igneous rock saturated with liquid water.
Study co-author Professor Michael Manga, from the University of California, Berkeley, commented: “Establishing that there is a big reservoir of liquid water provides some window into what the climate was like or could be like. And water is necessary for life as we know it.
“I don’t see why [the underground reservoir] is not a habitable environment. It’s certainly true on Earth – deep, deep mines host life, the bottom of the ocean hosts life. We haven’t found any evidence for life on Mars, but at least we have identified a place that should, in principle, be able to sustain life.”
NASA’s Insight lander was dispatched to Mars in 2018 to probe the crust, mantle, core and atmosphere, and it gathered a wealth of information before the mission concluded in 2022.
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