SAN DIEGO: Researchers have discovered reservoirs of liquid water in the Martian subsurface large enough to fill the oceans on the planet’s surface.
Using data from NASA’s InSight lander, scientists estimated that subsurface water could submerge Mars by one to two kilometers.
But experts say it’s unlikely to be of much use to anyone trying to exploit the reservoir for supplies to Mars in the future.
It is located in small cracks in the rock in the middle of the Martian crust, between 11.5 and 20 km from the surface. Even digging a hole a kilometer deep in the ground is a challenge.
“Understanding the water cycle is critical to understanding the evolution of the climate, surface and interior of Mars and is a useful starting point for identifying where and how much water is present,” said Washington Wright from UC Berkeley in the US. i am
