Arab Weather - Data from NASA's InSight mission, which operated between 2018 and 2022, revealed the presence of a large underground reservoir of water deep within the surface of Mars , according to a recent study.
It is estimated that this underground reservoir contains enough water to fill huge oceans on the surface of Mars, as this water could cover the entire planet to a depth of up to 1.6 kilometers.
The water is trapped in cracks and pores in the rock in the middle of the Martian crust, between 11.5 and 20 kilometers below the surface, posing significant challenges for future astronauts who might try to reach it.
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The discovery adds new details to our understanding of Mars’ geological history and provides a potential pointer to the search for life on the Red Planet. “Understanding the water cycle on Mars is critical to understanding the evolution of its climate, surface, and interior,” said Fashan Wright, an assistant professor at the University of California and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Mars is thought to have been a warmer, wetter place billions of years ago, with evidence showing ancient lakes, river channels, and rocks affected by water. But Mars lost its atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago, ending the planet’s wet period. The new research suggests that some of the lost water seeped into the Martian crust.
By studying InSight data, scientists were able to analyze the speed of Martian quakes as they traveled across the planet, revealing a deep layer of volcanic rock filled with liquid water. “The evidence of a large reservoir of liquid water provides a window into what the climate was, or could have been,” said Michael Manga, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.
Despite the strength of the evidence presented in the study, some remain cautious about confirming the results. Bruce Banerdt, the principal investigator of the InSight mission, says that the interpretation supported by the data is still somewhat speculative, and points out that there are always other ways to interpret any given set of data.
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For the first time.. Discovery of the deepest rock sample from the Earth's mantle
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