New research based on seismic measurements from NASA’s Mars InSight lander suggests that there may be enough water hidden in the cracks of underground rocks beneath the surface of Mars to form an ocean. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that the water, located 11.5km to 20km beneath the surface, could have collected billions of years ago when Mars had rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans.
Lead scientist Vashan Wright of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, along with Matthias Morzfeld and Michael Manga, used computer models and data from Mars InSight to determine that underground water was the most likely explanation for the seismic readings. Wright noted that similar conditions on Earth have supported microbial life deep underground, suggesting that the ingredients for life may exist in the Martian subsurface.
Mars InSight, the first spacecraft dedicated to studying Mars’s interior, detected over 1,300 marsquakes before it shut down in 2022. If the findings at InSight’s location near Mars’s equator are representative of the rest of the planet, the underground water could potentially fill a global ocean 1-2km deep. Further research and equipment would be needed to confirm the presence of water and search for signs of microbial life.
The data collected by Mars InSight is offering scientists valuable insights into Mars’s history and current conditions. Three billion years ago, Mars was believed to be largely covered in water before losing it as its atmosphere thinned. The discovery of underground water raises intriguing possibilities for future exploration and the search for potential microbial life on the red planet.
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