Mars’ Watery Past: New Research Reveals the Amount of Water Once Present on the Red Planet
Mars, the Red Planet, has long been a subject of fascination for scientists and space enthusiasts alike. Its barren and desolate landscape has always hinted at a mysterious past, and now, new research has shed light on the amount of water that once existed on Mars. The findings suggest that Mars may have once had as much water as Earth, making it a potentially habitable planet.
The research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, was conducted by planetary scientists who aimed to determine the extent of Mars’ watery past. They focused on answering the question of where the water has gone over time. The researchers considered various factors such as water loss to space, absorption into Martian rocks and minerals, freezing in the polar caps, preservation as buried ice from an ancient ocean, and drainage into Mars’ crust.
One significant area of water loss identified by the researchers is water escaping into space. Mars gradually lost its insulating atmosphere, which led to the drying out of the planet. Without this protective layer, water evaporated and escaped into space, leaving Mars significantly drier than it once was.
In fact, today Mars is 1,000 times drier than the driest desert on Earth. This stark contrast highlights the magnitude of water loss that Mars has experienced over billions of years.
The researchers estimated that Mars lost between 380 to 1,970 meters (1,247 to 6,463 feet) of water over time. This measurement is referred to as a “global equivalent layer” and assumes that all the water would be uniformly spread over the surface like a giant ocean. Previous studies had found lesser amounts of water using different methods to gauge Mars’ watery past.
However, there is still uncertainty about how much water is currently filling the pore space in Mars’ crust. It is possible that a significant amount of water is trapped within the crust, up to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). This uncertainty contributes to the wide range of water loss estimates.
To put the amount of water Mars once held into perspective, the researchers compared it to Earth. If all the water on Earth and in Earth’s crust were scaled proportionally to Mars’ size and mass, Mars would have had a global layer of water approximately 1,400 meters (4,593 feet) thick. This suggests that Mars may have once had Earth-like volumes of water, making it a potentially habitable planet.
The presence of such vast amounts of water on Mars, combined with the evidence of dried gullies, rivers, and lakes, paints a picture of an early Mars teeming with water. While there is no concrete evidence of microbial life on Mars, the abundance of water would have created an environment suitable for primitive organisms to evolve.
Bruce Jakosky, a planetary geologist at the University of Colorado and coauthor of the research, emphasized the significance of water in supporting life. “Water is a necessary ingredient to support life,” he explained. “Having that much water would make Mars habitable.”
These findings have important implications for future Martian missions, such as NASA’s Perseverance rover. Scientists are hopeful that these missions will uncover evidence of past life on Mars, whether in the form of certain molecules or even fragments of cells. The search for signs of life on Mars is an ongoing endeavor, and the research on Mars’ watery past provides valuable insights into its potential habitability.
As we continue to explore the mysteries of Mars, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: this once-watery planet holds many secrets waiting to be discovered. The tantalizing possibility of finding evidence of past life on Mars keeps scientists and space enthusiasts alike excited for what lies ahead in our exploration of the Red Planet.