Scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water on Mars – deep in the rocky outer crust of the red planet. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- The findings come from a new analysis of data from Nasa’s Mars Insight Lander.
- Mars Insight Lander touched down on Mars back in 2018 and its scientific mission ended in December 2022.
Key points
- Water is actually in Mars, at depths that are too far below the surface for us to access.
- The Insight lander carried a seismometer, which recorded four years’ of vibrations – Mars quakes – from deep inside the Red Planet.
- Analysing those quakes – and exactly how the planet moves – revealed “seismic signals” of liquid water.
- Acoustic waves generated by seismic activity inside the planet change according to the density and composition of the material they are moving through.
- Scientists analyzing the data can make inferences about what that material might be based on the behavior of the seismic waves.
- Deep below the surface of Mars, there lies a layer of fractured igneous rock, such as granite, whose cracks are filled with liquid water.
- That layer sits at depths between 11.5 and 20 kilometers (7.1 to 12.4 miles), which would be difficult to access.
- 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.
About Mars
- Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Mars was named by the Romans for their god of war because its reddish color was reminiscent of blood.
- It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. This dynamic planet has seasons, polar ice caps, extinct volcanoes, canyons and weather.
- It is called the “Red Planet” because iron minerals in the Martian dirt oxidize, or rust, causing the surface to look red.
- Mars is about half the size of Earth.
- As Mars orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 24.6 hours, which is very similar to one day on Earth (23.9 hours). Martian days are called sols – short for “solar day.”
- Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. The moons get their names from the horses that pulled the chariot of the Greek god of war, Ares.
