Billions of years ago, geological evidence suggested that the cold, dry Red planet was much bluer. There was enough water collected in basins, lakes and deep oceans to cover the entire planet in an ocean with a depth of about 100 to 1,500 meters. This is roughly equivalent to half of Earth’s Atlantic Ocean.
The question is: what exactly happened to all that water?
While little water can be found frozen in the Martian polar caps, Scientists had previously suggested that water flowing to Mars escaped into space due to the planet’s low gravity. And while a little water left Mars in this way, a new study by NASA claims that a large amount of water is still on the planet, trapped in its crust.
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“Atmospheric escape does not fully explain the data we have about how much water actually existed on Mars,” said Eva Scheller, lead author of the paper, which was published in the journal Science.
How the researchers estimated water Mars
Scheller and colleagues used data from rovers and orbiters on Mars, as well as analyzed meteorites to study the amount of water the Red Planet had. at first and how much he lost in time.
One way to do this is by analyzing the hydrogen levels in the planet’s atmosphere and rocks. Water is made up of both hydrogen and oxygen, but not all hydrogen atoms are created equal. Most have only one proton in the nucleus of the atom, while the so-called “heavy” hydrogen has an additional neutron.
NASA / JPL
Ordinary hydrogen has less trouble escaping the gravity of a planet than heavier deuterium. Therefore, the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D / H) in the planet’s atmosphere reflects the loss of Martian water.
“Atmospheric escape has clearly played a role in water loss, but discoveries in the last decade of missions to Mars have shown that there was this huge reservoir of ancient hydrated minerals whose formation certainly reduced water availability over time.” explains Bethany Ehlmann, professor of planetary science and associate director at the Keck Institute for Space Studies.
When water and rock come together, a process called chemical weathering can take place forming clays and other water-containing watery minerals. as part of their mineral structure.
And although Mars still has between 30 and 99 percent of the water trapped in the crust, Scheller warns that future astronauts will not be easy to extract water for use.