Data from probe

Mars holds a lot of water in its depths

It is not unreasonable to assume that the aqueous rock layers on Mars could also provide a habitable environment for microbes.

(Bild: AP)

Researchers claim to have discovered gigantic masses of water on Mars. They are said to be located deep below the surface.

The layers of rock on Mars contain so much water at a depth of ten to 20 kilometers that there would be enough for an ocean one to two kilometers deep on the entire planet.

A team led by Vashan Wright from the University of California in San Diego discovered the underground water reservoir while analyzing data from the Mars probe "InSight".

Water seeped away
"Over three billion years ago, there were large quantities of liquid water on the surface of Mars," explain Wright and his colleagues in the "Proceedings" of the National Academy of Sciences ("PNAS"). Numerous traces of river courses, lakes and a large ocean bear witness to this on images from Mars probes. 

Where this water has remained after Mars has almost completely lost its atmosphere is still unclear. A large part of the water could have seeped into the subsurface.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the water-bearing rock layers on Mars could also provide a habitable environment for microbes.

(Bild: AP)

To investigate this suspicion, Wright and his colleagues re-analyzed the data from "InSight" and compared it with various models for water-bearing rock layers. 

After the analysis, the researchers came to the conclusion that the data can best be explained by a water-containing layer of magmatic rock at a depth of ten to 20 kilometers.

Water hardly usable
However, this water would hardly be usable for future Mars colonists - firstly because of the great depth and secondly because the water is hidden in pores and cracks in the rock and is therefore difficult to extract.