Is There Water on Mars? (theconversation.com) 29
Evidence is mounting for "a vast reservoir of liquid water" on Mars, according to a new article by Australian National University professor Hrvoje TkalÄiÄ and geophysics associate professor Weijia Sun from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, announcing their recently published paper.
"Using seismic data from NASA's InSight mission, we uncovered evidence that the seismic waves slow down in a layer between 5.4 and 8 kilometres below the surface, which could be because of the presence of liquid water at these depths." Mars is covered in traces of ancient bodies of water. But the puzzle of exactly where it all went when the planet turned cold and dry has long intrigued scientists... Billions of years ago, during the Noachian and Hesperian periods (4.1 billion to 3 billion years ago), rivers carved valleys and lakes shimmered. As Mars' magnetic field faded and its atmosphere thinned, most surface water vanished. Some escaped to space, some froze in polar caps, and some was trapped in minerals, where it remains today. But evaporation, freezing and rocks can't quite account for all the water that must have covered Mars in the distant past.
Calculations suggest the "missing" water is enough to cover the planet in an ocean at least 700 metres deep, and perhaps up to 900 metres deep. One hypothesis has been that the missing water seeped into the crust. Mars was heavily bombarded by meteorites during the Noachian period, which may have formed fractures that channelled water underground. Deep beneath the surface, warmer temperatures would keep the water in a liquid state — unlike the frozen layers nearer the surface.
In 2018, NASA's InSight lander touched down on Mars to listen to the planet's interior with a super-sensitive seismometer. By studying a particular kind of vibration called "shear waves", we found a significant underground anomaly: a layer between 5.4 and 8 kilometres down where these vibrations move more slowly. This "low-velocity layer" is most likely highly porous rock filled with liquid water, like a saturated sponge. Something like Earth's aquifers, where groundwater seeps into rock pores. We calculated the "aquifer layer" on Mars could hold enough water to cover the planet in a global ocean 520-780m deep.
InSight's seismometer captured vibrations between the crust of Mars and its lower layers from two meteorite impacts in 2021 and a Marsquake in 2022. "These signatures let us pinpoint boundaries where rock changes, revealing the water-soaked layer 5.4 to 8 kilometres deep."
It's an exciting possibility. "Purified, it could provide drinking water, oxygen, or fuel for rockets." And since microbes thrives on earth in deep rocks filled with water, "Could similar life, perhaps relics of ancient Martian ecosystems, persist in these reservoirs?"
"Using seismic data from NASA's InSight mission, we uncovered evidence that the seismic waves slow down in a layer between 5.4 and 8 kilometres below the surface, which could be because of the presence of liquid water at these depths." Mars is covered in traces of ancient bodies of water. But the puzzle of exactly where it all went when the planet turned cold and dry has long intrigued scientists... Billions of years ago, during the Noachian and Hesperian periods (4.1 billion to 3 billion years ago), rivers carved valleys and lakes shimmered. As Mars' magnetic field faded and its atmosphere thinned, most surface water vanished. Some escaped to space, some froze in polar caps, and some was trapped in minerals, where it remains today. But evaporation, freezing and rocks can't quite account for all the water that must have covered Mars in the distant past.
Calculations suggest the "missing" water is enough to cover the planet in an ocean at least 700 metres deep, and perhaps up to 900 metres deep. One hypothesis has been that the missing water seeped into the crust. Mars was heavily bombarded by meteorites during the Noachian period, which may have formed fractures that channelled water underground. Deep beneath the surface, warmer temperatures would keep the water in a liquid state — unlike the frozen layers nearer the surface.
In 2018, NASA's InSight lander touched down on Mars to listen to the planet's interior with a super-sensitive seismometer. By studying a particular kind of vibration called "shear waves", we found a significant underground anomaly: a layer between 5.4 and 8 kilometres down where these vibrations move more slowly. This "low-velocity layer" is most likely highly porous rock filled with liquid water, like a saturated sponge. Something like Earth's aquifers, where groundwater seeps into rock pores. We calculated the "aquifer layer" on Mars could hold enough water to cover the planet in a global ocean 520-780m deep.
InSight's seismometer captured vibrations between the crust of Mars and its lower layers from two meteorite impacts in 2021 and a Marsquake in 2022. "These signatures let us pinpoint boundaries where rock changes, revealing the water-soaked layer 5.4 to 8 kilometres deep."
It's an exciting possibility. "Purified, it could provide drinking water, oxygen, or fuel for rockets." And since microbes thrives on earth in deep rocks filled with water, "Could similar life, perhaps relics of ancient Martian ecosystems, persist in these reservoirs?"
Yes (Score:4, Insightful)
Betterrage - the fury at yet another Betteridge-inspired clickbait headline.
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Traces of water, not oceans, not lakes, not rivers, probably short-lived rivulets at times. In them the water is present mostly as brine.
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I say we first have to tackle the challenge of getting there.
Forget that, let's go for the low-hanging fruit - a permanent settlement on the Moon - first.
Re:Yes (Score:4, Interesting)
Indeed there is. More than 5 million km^3 of ice have been detected at or near the surface of Mars, enough to cover the planet to a depth of 35 meters. [wikipedia.org]
And there is also water in Martian regolith, The High Energy Neutron Detector of the Mars Odyssey satellite the water content of Martian regolith is up to 5% by weight, or up to 100 liters per cubic meter of "soil".
This postulated liquid water is at a minimum 5.4 km underground. The deepest water well ever drilled on Earth is only 2.2 km deep [guinnessworldrecords.com].
Would it be easier to drill a super-deep well to get that liquid water, or to set up a surface plant to extract it from regolith, or to set up shop near the poles and simply melt ice?
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Armageddon 2 (Score:2)
Explosions ensue. Why? Because Michael Bay, that's f*%^ing why.
Re: Armageddon 2 (Score:2)
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Can't wait for the sequel to Armageddon, where Ben Affleck leads a rag tag team of drillers to tap the water of Mars for a new colony. Explosions ensue. Why? Because Michael Bay, that's f*%^ing why.
Science: Water is necessary for life, for raw materials for fuel, and for manufacturing processes.
Michael Bay: Water explodes. Sand explodes. Wind explodes. MARS IS FILLED WITH EXPLOSIVES!
Is ther water on Mars? (Score:2)
Just ask (Score:3)
Kuato. He knows.
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i remember that song (Score:2, Funny)
Sailors
Fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go.
It's the freakiest show.
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy.
Oh man!
Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show.
Is there Water On Mars?
Re: i remember that song (Score:1)
I was looking for this comment. I wish I could moderate!
Yes (Score:2)
There's a Doctor Who episode about it (Score:2)
Headline is garbage (Score:2)
TFS is about "a vast reservoir of liquid water".
Can we have competent AI Editors NOW already ?
One hundred parameters should be enough, running on a 386. SX.
STAR TREK LESSON (Score:1)
TL;DR - the article ignores some basic questions, and then suggests water is magically the answer to a question nobody should be asking because it makes no sense. Caps for emphasis, not yelling. But first, Sci-Fi:
STAR TREK
Star Trek taught us that all aliens look like us. They have two legs, two hands, talk with audio made from a vocal system, and have ears and eyes as well. (Except fo the Horta).
STAR WARS:
Star Wars (caninta scene) taught us that aliens DO NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE US but apparently they all h
No. (Score:2)
There is, however, water _in_ Mars.
Nestle (Score:2)
The answer is no, otherwise Nestle would already be there.
That would be one deep well... (Score:3)
Assuming there is a Martian aquifer, accessing would be quite the feat. The deepest water well on earth is ~2km (drilled for geothermal). The Kola Superdeep research bore did make it to 12km but took almost a decade to hit 9km. A huge problem with trying to drill something like that on Mars using current tech is that there would be no way to make drilling mud without a source of water. Making the amount of drilling mud required to drill a hole that deep would likely require water sufficient to sustain a small colony for an extended period of time. You'd have to have a pretty large colony with a constant train of supply missions before you could even think of drilling into the Martian aquifer.
Microbes ? (Score:2)