A significant scientific breakthrough has just shown that there is a gigantic reservoir of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars. With this finding, the previous topics of discussion among scientists and theorists about the habitability or human colonization of the planet might be opened yet again. Until now, Mars was charted as a lifeless, sterile world. However, the findings are based on seismic data from NASA's InSight lander, which would appear to show large volumes of liquid water at great depths within the crust of Mars.
The Discovery
The Insight lander touched down on Mars in 2018, and it was immediately set to work studying the interior of the planet. During this four-year mission, the lander did record some seismic activity that now is going to offer data on the Martian subsurface. It now discovered the liquid water existing in a region extending from 7.2 to 12.4 miles below the surface within settings of fractured igneous rocks, by investigating those seismic waves and with the help of highly developed techniques of modeling. First strong evidence for liquid water on Mars: an observation with fundamental implications for unraveling both the geological history of the planet and its habitability.
History of Mars and Habitability
Though Mars is known to have had a much wetter past—with evidence of ancient riverbeds and lakebeds on its surface—it has lost much of its water over the past three billion years. New findings suggest most of this may have filtered into the planet's crust and been held there as a liquid, rather than being jettisoned into space. "Water is the molecule that dominates planetary evolution," said study co-author, UC Berkeley Professor Michael Manga. "On Earth, life lives where water and energy are available; we could have a similar situation on Mars." If there were life, he believed that today most likely it would stay within the deep reservoirs.
Human Exploration and Colonization Aspects
This also brings back into focus the topic of human colonization on Mars. Water is the 'Non-Expendable, Renewable, and Overriding' (NERO) resource, essential for any long-term human presence on Mars, as it is critical for sustaining life, producing oxygen, and even generating fuel.. It is required not only for drinking but to make fuel and for agricultural processes. However, the challenge comes from the depth at which this water is present.
This would need to be a drilling project of the order of 7 to 12 miles into the Martian crust to access this water, an extraordinary technical challenge even for modern technology. "Even Elon Musk, with his ambitious plans to send people to Mars, would not be able to make it easily to such great depths," Michael Manga said jokingly. Researchers are under the impression that future missions might target regions with geological activity that could bring this water closer to the surface, for example, the tectonically active Cerberus Fossae region .
Ethical Considerations and Future Missions
The discovery of liquid water on Mars beneath the surface is certainly thrilling; however, opens doors to serious and ethically questionable moral dilemmas for human interference on Mars. Some scientists and ethicists argue that humans should tread very carefully to be sure that exploration or colonization doesn't inadvertently affect possible Martian ecosystems. This discovery then also determines the focus of all future missions to Mars, which, like the Perseverance Rover currently crawling across the Martian surface, would need to factor in this possibility in their search for signs of past or present life. Just like liquid water deep under an icy crust points to the possibility that Mars was once, and could still be, life-friendly.
The discovery hints at a reservoir of liquid water under Mars, prepares the ground for incalculable findings into the rediscovery of our understanding of the history and habitability of the planet. It is very difficult to know how to access this water, but these findings help to open up new lines of exploratory activities, and there are important ethical considerations in how one approaches the possibility of human settlement on Mars. With every new discovery, this brings us that bit closer to unmasking the mystery that Mars holds and consequently to its place within the grand tale of life in our solar system.
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