Is there life on Mars? This question is asked again and again. Now scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water on the Red Planet. As we know, water is essential for the existence of all life.

The findings are part of a new analysis of seismic data from NASA’s Mars InSight lander, a robotic spacecraft that landed on the planet in 2018. The lander was equipped with a seismometer that recorded more than 1,300 Marsquakes before it was shut down two years ago.

Studying these quakes deep inside the planet has now revealed signs of “liquid water.”

We examine the results and what they could mean for the study of extraterrestrial life.

What do we know about water on Mars?

It’s the first time scientists have found evidence of liquid water on Mars. The water is hidden in cracks in the subterranean rock – it’s beneath the Red Planet’s surface and too deep to reach.

This water is believed to be located at a depth of 11.5 to 20 kilometers in the middle crust of Mars. It consists of igneous rock with thin cracks filled with liquid water.

The material most likely seeped out of the surface billions of years ago, when Mars had rivers, lakes and possibly oceans, says Vashan Wright, the senior scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, who led the research.

This is the “best evidence yet” that there is still liquid water on Mars at its poles in addition to frozen water, the findings say.

The research results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

How much water is there on Mars?

According to scientists, there is enough water on Mars to fill “oceans” on the planet’s surface. If the area studied is a representative location, the Martian midcrust could contain a volume of liquid water “that exceeds that of the hypothetical ancient oceans,” the study says.

Research estimates that the amount of groundwater beneath the Martian surface could cover the entire planet to a depth of about a mile, reports USA TODAY.

As rovers collected data from the planet’s surface, it became clear that Mars was not as dry and dusty as it is today. It had tons of water, as evidenced by the terrain, minerals, and ancient dry beds and deltas. So what happened? For three billion years, it was a desert.

Prof. Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, who was involved in the research, said water is “the most important molecule in the evolution of a planet.” This discovery, he said, answers the big question: “Where did all the water on Mars go?”

Some of the water evaporated and turned into gas when Mars lost its atmosphere. Prof. Manga added that on Earth, “much of our water is underground and there is no reason why the same should not be true on Mars.”

Does the presence of water mean there could be life on Mars?

The research is important because “understanding the Martian water cycle is critical to understanding how the climate, surface and interior evolve,” Wright, an assistant professor at Scripps, said in a statement. “A useful starting point is to figure out where water is and how much of it there is.”

According to scientists, the discovery reveals important details about the history of Mars. “Finding that there is a large reservoir of liquid water provides insight into the climate that was or could be there,” Prof. Manga said in a statement. “And water is necessary for life as we know it.”

“I don’t understand why (groundwater) shouldn’t be a habitable habitat,” he added, noting that life can also be found deep down on Earth, for example in “very deep mines” or on the “sea floor.”

However, the researcher clarified that no evidence of extraterrestrial life was found. “We have not found evidence of life on Mars, but at least we have identified a place that could, in principle, host life,” Prof. Manga was quoted as saying by Forbes.

Wright said that just because water is still sloshing around inside Mars doesn’t mean there is life there. “Instead, our findings mean that there are environments that are potentially habitable,” he said in an email, reports The Associated Press (AP).

Can the water be used?

The water is inaccessible. It would not be of much use to anyone wanting to tap it to supply a future Mars colony, said a statement from the University of California, Berkeley, adding that even on Earth it would be difficult to drill a hole half a mile deep.

“Access to water could be a challenge,” Wright said. Professor Manga joked that this could be a new challenge for Elon Musk.
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With inputs from agencies_