The latest data from the Mars InSight lander reveals something very exciting: there could be vast reservoirs of liquid water beneath the Red Planet’s surface. However, achieving it is a task that still seems impossible.
Geophysicists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego analyzed seismic data collected by InSight and concluded that at a depth of 7.5 to 12 miles below the surface of Mars lies a layer of fractured igneous rock filled with liquid water. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Understanding the water cycle on Mars is critical to understanding the evolution of its climate, surface and interior,” say one of the study’s authors, geophysicist Vashan Wright.
Determining the location and amount of water will help scientists understand how much liquid was on Mars billions of years ago and what happened to these water reserves.
One of the main mysteries of Mars is where the water that is believed to once have covered the planet’s surface has gone. There are two main hypotheses: part of the water could evaporate into space, and the other part could penetrate into the bowels of Mars.
Thanks to Mars InSight, we now have data that allows us to peer into the interior of the planet and study its internal composition. The lander, which completed its mission in December 2022, managed to collect a huge amount of data on Mars’ seismic activity.
These data, according to the researchers, indicate the presence of water in the planet’s underground layers, which could be a decisive factor in supporting life if it ever existed on Mars.
“Water is essential to life as we know it,” says geophysicist Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley. “We haven’t found evidence for life on Mars, but we now know of a place that could potentially support it.”
Despite the importance of this discovery, scientists still have much work to do to definitively confirm the presence of water on such a scale. Next steps in Mars exploration could include installing new seismometers and conducting more detailed studies of the Earth’s crust.
