Data from Nasa’s Mars InSight lander shows evidence of liquid water far below the surface of the fourth planet, advancing the search for life there and showing what might have happened to Mars’ ancient oceans.
The lander, which has been on the Red Planet since 2018, measured seismic data over four years, examining how quakes shook the ground and determining what materials or substances were beneath the surface, according to a study released on Monday.
Based on that data, the researchers found liquid water was most likely present deep beneath the lander. Water is considered essential for life, and geological studies show the planet’s surface had lakes, rivers and oceans more than 3 billion years ago.
“On Earth what we know is where it is wet enough and there are enough sources of energy, there is microbial life very deep in Earth’s subsurface,” said one of the authors, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface if these interpretations are correct.”
