In a breakthrough discovery, a reservoir of liquid water has been identified within the Martian crust. It gives insights into the geological history of the Red Planet and the possible existence of life. The revelation comes after an analysis of more extensive data gathered by NASA’s Mars Insight Lander, studying Mars since its touchdown in 2018.
Using its onboard seismometer, Insight Lander measured more than four years of Mars quakes, capturing more than 1,319 seismic events. It is these vibrations, ‘marsquakes’, that furnished vital data to infer the existence of liquid water underneath the planet’s surface. The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are the first discovery of liquid water on Mars beyond the frozen water at its poles and vapor in its atmosphere.
“These are the same techniques we use to prospect for water on Earth or to look for oil and gas,” said Professor Michael Manga from the University of California, Berkeley, who worked on the research. Scientists have made the inference that water might lie 10-20 kilometers beneath the surface of the Martian crust through the measure of speed at which seismic waves can travel through it.
The discovery suggests that Mars, once a warmer and wetter body with rivers and lakes, still holds massive amounts of water underground. Water is likely caught in the micropores, small cracks, and pores in the rock, possibly covering the whole planet to a depth of one mile. According to Dr. Vashan Wright, the lead author of the paper and a researcher at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, knowing the water budget of Mars is central to understanding its climate, surface, and interior evolution.
Though the water is undoubtedly out of reach for future astronauts, it’s 7 to 12 miles beneath the surface. The finding does open up new possibilities in the hunt for habitability on Mars. According to Prof. Manga, water is essential for life as we know it, and this underground reservoir may support life as deep groundwater does on Earth because it supports microbial life.
The data returned by the Insight mission indicated that the Martian crust consists of igneous rock saturated with liquid water, the result of which suits the geological history of Mars. How the frozen groundwater is missing at shallower depth has remained unknown and opened up avenues for further investigation.
One of the implications pointed out by Alberto Fairén, Cornell University visiting planetary scientist, is for astrobiology: consequences for a liquid water habitat similar to Earth’s subsurface biosphere existing kilometers beneath the surface of Mars.
The findings open up a bonanza of information about the geological queries concerning Mars and its habitability, said the principal investigator on the InSight mission, Bruce Banerdt. Banerdt and Wright endorse the notion of more seismometers on Mars to achieve a fuller understanding of the interior of the planet and its complex history.
It’s a discovery that not only adds another piece to the Martian water puzzle but also points toward the possibly habitable nature of Mars—therefore, it’s a breakthrough in planetary science.