Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Government Media Office in Gaza: So far, 7 bodies have been recovered, while two remain under the rubble, in a scene that epitomizes genocide.
Government Media Office in Gaza: 9 children from one family were killed in an Israeli massacre against the "Al-Najjar" family in Khan Yunis.
Gaza Government Media Office: Over 300 miscarriages have occurred among pregnant women due to the lack of essential nutrients.
Gaza Government Media Office: 26 kidney patients have lost their lives due to the absence of nutritional and medical care.
Gaza Government Media Office: 58 Palestinians have died due to malnutrition, and 242 due to lack of food and medicine.
Ranjbaran to Al Mayadeen: There is a difficult path full of challenges ahead for the indirect talks
Ranjbaran to Al Mayadeen: Defending the Resistance, the Palestinian cause, the Lebanese Resistance, and confronting Zionist crimes throughout the entire region are at the top of the Foreign Minister’s agenda
Ranjbaran to Al Mayadeen:Currently, both Tehran and Washington consider uranium enrichment a red line, but the Americans' red line exists only on paper, whereas our red line is inviolable under any circumstances, and the Americans fully understand this
Ranjbaran to Al Mayadeen: Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi will not back down in the face of US pressure or its media tactics aimed at influencing the other party. They know well that he is a seasoned diplomat who will not lose his way
Ranjbaran to Al Mayadeen: "Israel" has proven that it makes decisions on behalf of the Trump administration and is using all its capabilities to sabotage these talks

New hope of finding life on Mars after indication of water, scientists

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News websites
  • 13 Aug 2024 09:44
3 Min Read

Calculations suggest that a volume of liquid, equivalent to a 1-2 km-deep ocean, may be frozen as far as 20 km beneath the surface of Mars.

Listen
  • x
  •  This illustration made available by NASA on March 29, 2018 shows the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft flying over Mars with Earth and the sun in the distance. (AP)
    This illustration made available by NASA on March 29, 2018, shows the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft flying over Mars with Earth and the sun in the distance. (AP)

Scientists have proposed that vast amounts of water may be trapped deep within Mars' crust, reigniting questions about the potential for life on the red planet. According to research, over three billion years ago, Mars had lakes, rivers, and even oceans on its surface. However, as the planet lost its atmosphere, these bodies of water disappeared, leaving only permafrost ice at the poles.

While some of Mars' water is believed to have escaped into space, recent studies suggest this isn't the full story. It's possible that the water was absorbed into minerals, buried as ice, or may even exist in liquid form deep beneath the planet's crust.

New calculations indicate that substantial quantities of liquid water might be trapped within rocks, located 11.5 to 20 kilometers below the Martian surface.

“Our liquid water estimate is more than the water volumes proposed to have filled possible ancient Martian oceans,” said Dr. Vashan Wright, a co-author of the study from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

Hypothesis of presence of life on Mars 

Related News

Trump unveils $175 billion 'Golden Dome' missile shield

Webb Telescope detects possible signs of life beyond solar system

In a study published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", Wright and his colleagues detail their calculations, which are based on gravity data from Mars and measurements from NASA’s InSight lander. The InSight lander provided crucial data on how seismic wave speeds, generated by Marsquakes and meteorite impacts, vary with depth within the planet's crust.

This information was instrumental in their analysis, leading to the hypothesis that significant amounts of water could be trapped deep below Mars' surface. “A mid-crust whose rocks are cracked and filled with liquid water best explains both seismic and gravity data,” Wright said.

Wright added that if the measurements at the Insight lander location were representative of the whole planet, the amount of water trapped in the rock fractures would fill a 1-2km-deep ocean on Mars.

Read next: NASA to launch year long experiment to simulate life on Mars

“On Earth, groundwater underground infiltrated from the surface, and we expect this process to have occurred on Mars,” he said. “The infiltration must have happened during a time when the upper crust was warmer than it is today.”

Wright noted that while their findings do not eliminate the possibility that water was lost to space or trapped in minerals, the research enables scientists to reassess the relative contributions of these various mechanisms to the disappearance of water from Mars' surface. This new perspective helps refine our understanding of how the red planet’s once-abundant surface water may have been redistributed or lost over time.

“The presence of water does not signify that there is life, but water is thought to be an important ingredient for life,” said Wright. “We know that life can exist in the deep subsurface of the Earth, where there is water. The mid-crust of Mars at least contains a key ingredient for habitability and life as we know it.”

  • Space
  • Mars

Most Read

YAF say struck 'Israel's' Ben-Gurion Airport with missiles, drones

YAF say struck 'Israel's' Ben Gurion Airport with missiles, drones

  • MENA
  • 18 May 2025
Rachel Accurso criticized for speaking out on Gaza children crisis

Ms. Rachel accused of antisemitism for speaking out for Gaza children

  • Politics
  • 20 May 2025
Martyrs, injuries in violent Israeli bombardment of southern Gaza

Israeli operation fails; IOF launch violent strikes on Gaza

  • Politics
  • 19 May 2025
The spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, giving a statement on Friday, April 11, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemeni Armed Forces declare Haifa Port under naval siege

  • Politics
  • 20 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Eric Coquerel, a parliament member of the far-left La France Insoumise (The Unbowed) party attends a demonstration outside Sciences-Po university in Paris, Friday, April 26, 2024 (AP)
Politics

French teacher suspended for minute of silence in solidarity with Gaza

Palestinian landlord Akram Sabra, 60, stands next to a vehicle burnt under attack by Israeli settlers overnight, in the West Bank village of Bruqin, near Salfit Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Politics

Israeli settlers torch homes, vehicles in West Bank village

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, reads a paper in a meeting with his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi at the Omani Embassy in Rome during the fifth round of Iran-US negotiations, Friday, May 23, 2025 (Iran Foreign Ministry)
Politics

Iran-US talks in Rome yield limited progress, Omani FM says

AP
Politics

EU sought ship, port, energy ties in nixed proposal to Trump: Report

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS