A groundbreaking discovery has been made on Mars, revealing a gigantic hidden ocean beneath its surface. This massive underground reservoir, identified using seismic data gathered by NASA’s InSight Lander, holds enough liquid water to cover the entire planet with a mile of water. However, this vast ocean lies trapped deep within a layer of fractured rock, 7 to 13 miles beneath the Red Planet’s outer crust. Accessing this watery realm would require a drilling operation of unprecedented depth, far exceeding any drilling endeavor ever achieved on Earth.
Despite the formidable technological hurdle, the discovery ignites hope for the potential existence of life on Mars. The researchers behind the finding, who published their results in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), highlight the crucial role of water in sustaining life as we know it. Study co-author Michael Manga, a professor of earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley, emphasizes that the underground reservoir presents a potentially habitable environment, drawing parallels to deep-sea ecosystems on Earth, where life thrives even in extreme conditions. While no direct evidence of Martian life has been found, the presence of this vast water source offers a compelling location to search for extraterrestrial life.
The discovery adds another layer to the long-standing mystery surrounding Mars’ watery past. Abundant evidence of dried-up river channels, deltas, and lake beds across the Martian surface indicates that water once flowed freely on the planet’s surface. However, around 3.5 billion years ago, a dramatic shift in Mars’ climate stripped away its surface water. The precise cause of this rapid desiccation remains unclear, but scientists have proposed various theories, including a sudden loss of the planet’s magnetic field, an asteroid impact, or the influence of ancient microbial life that triggered climate change.
To delve into Mars’ interior for clues, researchers utilized data collected by NASA’s InSight lander, a robotic seismology lab that studied the Red Planet’s internal workings from 2018 to 2022. InSight’s sensors detected quakes, some reaching a magnitude of 5, triggered by meteor impacts and volcanic activity. These seismic waves reverberated through the planet, providing valuable insights into its internal structure. By applying a mathematical model similar to those used to locate aquifers and oil deposits on Earth, scientists were able to map out Mars’ interior, determining the thickness of its crust, the depth of its core, the composition of its core, and even gleaning information about the temperature within its mantle.
The investigation of the deeper crust revealed a compelling finding: it likely consists of a patchwork of fragmented igneous rock containing an abundance of liquid water. This discovery suggests that the water did not simply vanish into space billions of years ago but rather seeped down into the planet’s crust. Reaching this hidden ocean remains a significant challenge, as the deepest hole ever drilled on Earth, the Kola Superdeep Borehole, only penetrated 7.6 miles into our planet’s surface. However, the search for life on Mars extends beyond this underground reservoir. NASA’s Perseverance rover, exploring the surface of Jezero crater since 2021, is actively collecting geological samples that could potentially reveal traces of Martian dust and even evidence of ancient life. While an initial sample retrieval mission was planned for 2026, budget concerns have led to a postponement until 2040. In an effort to accelerate this crucial endeavor, NASA is seeking proposals from private companies to expedite the mission timeline.
