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US media: The latest research proves that there may be a large amount of liquid water deep in Mars

2024-08-14

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A new study led by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has proven that Mars still has a large amount of liquid water in addition to the frozen water at the poles. According to CNN on the 13th, these water resources may exist in tiny cracks and pores in the rocks in the middle of the Martian crust, 11.5-20 kilometers from the surface of Mars. If these water resources are spread all over the surface of the planet, the depth can reach 1 to 2 kilometers.

The report said that the data used in the study came from the InSight Mars unmanned probe launched by NASA. The research results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the 12th. If the research is true, it will lay the foundation for finding evidence of life on Mars.

Whether there is liquid water on Mars has always attracted the attention of scientists. Researcher Wright said: "Understanding the water cycle of Mars is crucial to understanding the evolution of climate, Martian surface and interior." According to existing evidence, Mars may have been a warmer and wetter place billions of years ago, but it lost its atmosphere more than 3 billion years ago, ending its wet period. Existing theories have proposed several possible scenarios for the changes in water on Mars after this: one is that the water turned into ice or lost to space, and the other is that the water was integrated into minerals under the surface of Mars or penetrated into deep aquifers. The new study shows that the water on Mars may have penetrated into the Martian crust.

Experts say that there may be liquid water deep in the Martian crust for decades, but this study is the first to confirm this speculation. Wright said: "Although the data analysis cannot reveal any information about whether there was life on Mars in the past or now, there may be an environment suitable for biological habitation inside the humid Martian crust." (Chen Jia)

Editor/Zhang Li