2024-08-13 20:20:04
Researchers claim to have discovered gigantic masses of water on Mars. They are said to be located further below the surface.
Using data from the now-terminated NASA InSight mission, scientists have found evidence of a huge reservoir of water deep beneath the surface of Mars. The researchers estimate that there is enough water trapped in tiny cracks and pores in the rock of the Martian crust to form ocean on the surface. According to the study, which was published in the journal PNAS, the groundwater is distributed across the entire planet.
However, the water will not be easy for future astronauts to extract because it is located between 11.5 and 20 kilometers below the surface, according to the study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Previous NASA missions have provided evidence that Mars was a warmer, wetter world billions of years ago, but the loss of its atmosphere over 3 billion years ago brought an end to that wet period. This new discovery could help solve the mystery of Mars’ “missing” water and better understand the evolution of Mars’ climate, surface, and interior.
Geophysicist Vashan Wright of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, told US broadcaster CNN: “Understanding the water cycle on Mars is important for understanding the climate and the surface. A good start is knowing how much water there is and where it is.”