A new study suggests that Mars may contain significant amounts of water beneath its surface, potentially enough to form a global ocean. This discovery is based on seismic data collected by NASA's InSight lander, which recorded over 1,300 marsquakes during its two-year mission.

Possible Habitable Environments

The research, led by Vashan Wright of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, indicates that this water could be located 11.5 to 20 kilometres below Mars' crust. The study suggests that the water seeped underground billions of years ago, a time when Mars had rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans, Associated Press reported. 

While this discovery does not necessarily point to life on Mars, Wright highlighted that it indicates the potential for habitable environments on the planet. The research team used computer models and data from the Mars InSight mission, including seismic wave velocity, to conclude that underground water is the most likely explanation for their findings. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences featured this research.

Further Exploration Required

If conditions at InSight's landing site in Elysium Planitia are similar to the rest of Mars, the underground water could fill a global ocean one to two kilometres deep. However, further exploration with drilling equipment is needed to confirm the presence of this water and to search for signs of microbial life.

Although the Mars InSight mission ended in 2022, data collected between 2018 and 2022 is still being analysed to understand Mars' interior. Scientists believe that Mars, once covered in oceans more than three billion years ago, lost its surface water as its atmosphere thinned, leaving the planet dry. A substantial quantity of this ancient water may have escaped into space or persists in subterranean reservoirs.

Earlier studies confirmed the presence of frozen water at the poles and evidence of water vapour in the atmosphere, but this is the first time liquid water has been detected on Mars.

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