Groundbreaking Mars Research: Vast Hidden Ocean Discovered Beneath Red Planet’s Dusty Surface

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Recent seismic data from NASA’s Mars InSight lander suggests that Mars may harbor significant amounts of underground water, potentially enough to form a global ocean beneath its surface.

The findings are grounded in seismic measurements taken by the Mars InSight lander, which recorded over 1,300 marsquakes before ceasing operations two years ago. According to lead scientist Vashan Wright from the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this subterranean water is estimated to be located seven to 12 miles deep within the Martian crust.

This water likely seeped below the surface billions of years ago when Mars had rivers, lakes, and possibly oceans. Wright emphasized that the presence of this underground water does not necessarily suggest the existence of life on Mars. “Instead, our findings mean that there are environments that could possibly be habitable,” Wright stated via email.

The research team used a combination of computer models and seismic readings, including the velocity of the detected quakes, to conclude that underground water is the most plausible explanation for the readings. These results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

If the findings from InSight’s location at Elysium Planitia, near Mars’ equator, are representative of the entire planet, the amount of underground water could theoretically fill a global ocean one to two kilometers deep, according to Wright. Confirming the presence of this water would require drilling and other specialized equipment to explore potential traces of microbial life.

Despite the InSight lander no longer being operational, scientists continue to analyze the data it collected between 2018 and 2022 to gain more insights into Mars’ interior.

Mars, believed to have been wet almost all over more than 3 billion years ago, lost its surface water as its atmosphere thinned, transforming the planet into the arid and dusty world we see today. Researchers speculate that much of this ancient water either escaped into space or remains buried below Mars’ surface.