NASA confirmed that its InSight Lander spotted evidence of oceans on Mars’ sub-surface. This is a truly significant advancement in our ongoing search for life on the Red Planet.
The NASA lander has been on Mars since the year 2018. Its mission focused on measuring seismic data over the course of four years, drawing conclusions on ground movement during “marsquakes.” This helped in determining the substances and materials under the Red Planet’s surface.
Based on data provided by the lander, NASA scientists concluded that liquid water is most likely deep beneath the planet’s surface. Additionally, recent geological studies on Mars show that the Red Planet also had lakes, rivers, and oceans over three billion years ago.
Ingredients for life on Martian subsurface
Based on the studies, researchers have concluded that the elements necessary for life are likely present within the Martian subsurface.
Scientists have compared their findings to life processes as we know them on Earth. We know that areas containing enough moisture even underneath the surface of the Earth might still generate microbial life.
Scientists have estimated that the oceans of water on the Martian subsurface are somewhere between 7 to 12.5 miles (11.5 to 20 kilometers) deep.
According to researchers, metrics suggest that the oceans in Mars’ subsurface are larger than the ones that were on the planet’s surface billions of years ago.
Like Earth, Mars water leaked from surface to subsurface
Following these discoveries, many theories have been put forth as to how Mars’ subsurface oceans evolved.
Scientists from the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, believe groundwater infiltrated from the surface downwards. Such a process also took place on Earth.
Unfortunately, with our current technology, we have no means to study the water in Mars’ subsurface oceans. It is not possible for scientists to drill into the Red Planet’s surface to test their hypothesis.
However, scientists announced that the results from this probe are extremely revealing. They hope the readings will further our understanding of Mars’ water cycle and help determine what might have happened to the Red Planet’s ancient surface water.
More importantly, the readings obtained from the InSight Lander might aid in the search for signs of life on the planet. Lastly, these may assist institutions such as NASA determine what equipment astronauts should take with them on a potential mission to Mars.
