A recent study unveiled by NASA’s InSight lander has found a massive reservoir of liquid water beneath Mars’ surface, potentially capable of covering the planet in a global ocean. Seismic data suggest this water, located 7.2 to 12.4 miles deep, may indicate conditions favorable for microbial life

Water on Mars: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered immense reserves of water beneath the surface of Mars.

Water on Mars: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered immense reserves of water beneath the surface of Mars. This is enough to fill an ocean. There are cracks in the rocks several kilometers below the surface. There is so much liquid water between these cracks that if collected they would form an ocean. NASA has made this calculation from the data received from Insight Lander.

Water exists at a depth of 11.5-20km from the surface of Mars. There is a huge amount of water present at a depth of 11.5 to 20 kilometers from the surface of Mars, which is also likely to contain small microorganisms. This study was conducted by planetary scientist Vashon Wright and his team at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Vashan has said that the upper layer of Mars i.e. the crust creates such an environment at such a depth that liquid water can accumulate in it. This study by Vashan and his colleagues has recently been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While there is water frozen at the Martian poles and evidence of vapour in the atmosphere, this is the first time liquid water has been found on the planet. 

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Insight’s scientific mission ended in December 2022, after the lander sat quietly listening to “the pulse of Mars” for four years.

In that time, the probe recorded more than 1,319 quakes. 

By measuring how fast seismic waves travel, scientists have worked out what material they are most likely to be moving through. 

“These are actually the same techniques we use to prospect for water on Earth, or to look for oil and gas,” explained Prof Michael Manga, from the University of California, Berkeley, who was involved in the research. 

The analysis revealed reservoirs of water at depths of about six to 12 miles (10 to 20km) in the Martian crust.

“Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding the evolution of the climate, surface and interior,” said lead researcher Dr Vashan Wright, from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Prof Manga added that water was “the most important molecule in shaping the evolution of a planet”. This finding, he said, answers a big question of “where did all the Martian water go?”.

Studies of the surface of Mars – with its channels and ripples – show that, in ancient times, there were rivers and lakes on the planet.

Massive underground water reservoir discovered on Mars, sparking new hope for life

The researchers used seismic data from NASA’s InSight lander, which operated from 2018 to 2022, to identify water-rich layers in the planet’s deep crust.

Speaking to the BBC, Michael Manga, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-author of the study, discussed the implications of this discovery for the potential habitability of Mars.

“Establishing that there is a big reservoir of liquid water provides some window into what the climate was like or could be like,” Manga said.

“And water is necessary for life as we know it. I don’t see why (the underground reservoir) is not a habitable environment,” he added.

The presence of liquid water miles beneath Mars’ surface offers new insights into the planet’s geological history and hints at the possibility that life could exist in these subsurface aquifers.

According to CNN, Alberto Fairen, a planetary scientist at Cornell University, also remarked: “These new results demonstrate that liquid water does exist in the Martian subsurface today, not in the form of discrete and isolated lakes, but as liquid water-saturated sediments, or aquifers.”

This discovery is a significant step forward in understanding Mars’ past, present, and potential for supporting life, paving the way for future missions to investigate the mysteries hidden beneath the Red Planet’s surface.

The claims were made based on data received from NASA’s robotic InSight Lander during a mission to help decipher the interior of Mars. This is good news, as it provides hope of probable life on the red planet. However, there is one problem.

The water discovered on Mars is located about 7.2 to 12.4 miles (11.5 to 20 km) below the Martian surface, which is at depths that are too far below the surface for us to access. Life can sustain at such depths, as researchers point out that conditions beneath are favourable for microbial life, but reaching there would be a herculean task, almost impossible some may say.

“At these depths, the crust is warm enough for water to exist as a liquid. At more shallow depths, the water would be frozen as ice,” said planetary scientist Vashan Wright of the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, lead author of the study.

The study was published on Monday (Aug 12) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

On our planet Earth, we are able to find microbial life deep underground where rocks are saturated with water, explains co-author Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley.

Challenges ahead

Water would be a vital resource if humankind ever is to place astronauts on the Martian surface or establish some sort of long-term settlement. We knew earlier that Mars harbours water in the form of ice in its polar regions and in its subsurface, but the discovery of water in underground water is huge. And the challenge is huge too. 

“Drilling to these depths is very challenging. Looking for places where geological activity expels this water, possibly the tectonically active Cerberus Fossae (a region in the northern hemisphere of Mars), is an alternative to looking for deep liquids,” Manga said.

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