The findings follow analysis of seismic readings from NASA’s Mars InSight lander before its shutdown in 2022.
New research suggests there may be enough water hidden in the crevices of subterranean rocks beneath the surface of Mars to form an ocean.
The findings are based on seismic measurements from NASA’s Mars InSight probe, which detected more than 1,300 earthquakes before it was shut down two years ago.
The researchers combined computer models with InSight data, including the speed of earthquakes, to determine that groundwater was the most likely explanation for the seismic readings. The results were published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The water – in fractures 11.5 km (7.15 miles) 20 km below the surface – would likely have accumulated there billions of years ago, when Mars was home to rivers, lakes and possibly oceans, according to chief scientist , Vashan Wright, Scripps University of California, San Diego.
“On Earth, what we know is that where there is enough moisture and there are enough energy sources, there is microbial life very deep underground on Earth,” Wright said. “The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface, if these interpretations are correct.”
Matthias Morzfeld of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley also authored the paper.
InSight Lander – Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport – was the US space agency’s first spacecraft dedicated to observing below the surface of Mars and studying its interior.
If InSight’s location on Elysium Planitia, near Mars’ equator, is representative of the rest of the Red Planet, the groundwater would be enough to fill a global ocean 1-2 km deep, Wright added.
Drills and other equipment would be needed to confirm the presence of water and look for any potential signs of microbial life.
Scientists have been analyzing the data collected by the probe in search of more information about the interior of Mars.
Almost entirely wet for more than 3 billion years, Mars is thought to have lost its surface water as its atmosphere thinned, transforming the planet into the dry, dusty world we know today.
Scientists theorize that much of this ancient water escaped into space or remained buried below.
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