SPACE
Mars’ subsurface could harbour an ocean
August 13, 2024 - A study of NASA’s Mars InSight lander shows evidence of water beneath the surface of the Red Planet, with enough water to form a global ocean.
The lander has been on the Red Planet since 2018 and measured seismic data of more than 1,300 marsquakes over four years before shutting down in December 2022.
Geological studies show that the planet’s surface had lakes, rivers, and oceans over three billion years ago. Water is considered essential for life.
“The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface if these interpretations are correct,” said lead scientist Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“On Earth, groundwater infiltrated from the surface” to deep underground, Wright said. “We expect this process to have occurred on Mars as well when the upper crust was warmer than it is today.”
But just because water still may be sloshing around inside Mars does not mean it holds life, Wright added.
The study, whose authors also include Matthias Morzfeld of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Michael Manga of the University of California Berkeley, was published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.