Liquid water is a crucial ingredient for life as we know it, and there is evidence that it once existed on Mars. However, recent studies suggest that there may be liquid water deep in the Martian crust today, at depths ranging from five to 15 miles. This discovery was made possible by data gathered by NASA’s InSight lander, which operated on Mars from November 2018 to late 2022.
The presence of liquid water so far beneath the surface of Mars means that it is unlikely to ever be directly studied. The challenging conditions on Mars make drilling to access this water a difficult task. Even on Earth, drilling just a kilometer into the crust is a significant challenge, and the same operation on Mars would be even more complex due to the lack of necessary equipment and resources.
However, the inaccessibility of this water is what allows it to remain in liquid form in the first place. The heat from Mars’s core and the ambient pressure at such depths keep the water from freezing. This new study sheds light on the geological composition of Mars, including the thickness of its crust and the size of its core.
The water in the Martian crust is not present in large bodies but rather in fractures and cracks within the rock. This discovery raises questions about the origin of this water and how it got there. Scientists speculate that the water on Mars might have infiltrated from the surface, similar to groundwater on Earth. The presence of water in the Martian crust also opens up the possibility of finding remnants of past life on the planet.
Overall, the discovery of liquid water deep in the Martian crust is an exciting development in our understanding of the red planet. It offers new insights into the geological processes that have shaped Mars and raises intriguing possibilities for the existence of life, past or present, on the planet.
