New research suggests Mars could harbor vast underground water reserves, possibly enough to form a global ocean, according to seismic data from NASA's Mars InSight lander.
The research was published Monday in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," offering new clues about the planet's history and habitability potential, NBC News reported.
The InSight mission, which operated from 2018 until it ceased functioning two years ago, detected over 1,300 marsquakes. These seismic events provided crucial data, allowing scientists to investigate the planet's interior. The lead scientist, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, explained that these findings suggest water could be present deep within Mars' crust.
The water is believed to be located between seven and 12 miles below the surface, likely having seeped underground billions of years ago when Mars was a much wetter planet. During that period, Mars is thought to have had rivers, lakes, and possibly even oceans.
Wright emphasized that while the presence of water beneath Mars' surface doesn't necessarily indicate the presence of life, it does point to environments that could have been habitable in the past.
"Our findings mean that there are environments that could possibly be habitable," Wright stated in an email.
The research team reached these conclusions by combining computer models with InSight's seismic data, particularly focusing on the velocity of the marsquakes. Their analysis led them to conclude that underground water was the most plausible explanation for the observed data.
The study's implications are profound. If the InSight lander's findings from its location at Elysium Planitia, near Mars' equator, represent the entire planet, then Mars could hold enough water beneath its surface to fill a global ocean up to two kilometers deep.
However, confirming the presence of this water would require drilling into the Martian crust, a challenging task that would necessitate advanced equipment and future missions. Such efforts could also help scientists search for any signs of microbial life, a prospect that continues to intrigue researchers.
Once wet almost all over more than three billion years ago, Mars is believed to have lost most of its surface water as its atmosphere thinned. This process turned the planet into the dry, dusty world we know today. Scientists theorize that much of this ancient water escaped into space or remains buried below the planet's surface.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.