Looking for water on Mars

A team of scientists may have found a huge underground reservoir of liquid water on Mars, potentially enough water to cover the entire planet with a depth of about one mile.

Based on evidence such as dry river channels, deltas, lake deposits, and rocks that show signs of water erosion, scientists have long suspected that an abundance of liquid water once flowed on the Martian surface. Where it went has remained a mystery. The Martian ice caps do not contain enough frozen water to offer a full explanation.

Now, in a new study, researchers used a mathematical model of rock physics, like that used to map underground water and oil fields on Earth, to analyze data collected by NASA’s InSight lander during its four-year mission that ended in 2022. The results indicate that much of the planet’s surface water likely seeped deep into the Martian crust, saturating cracks and pores in the fractured igneous rocks, which are cooled magma.

The analysis doesn’t give 100 percent assurance that this water reservoir exists, said Michael Manga, one of the researchers and a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley. “What we can say is, a liquid water reservoir is the best explanation for the data we have,” he told me.

But even if the water supply, located 7 to 13 miles beneath the Martian surface, exists, it will most likely remain inaccessible in the foreseeable future. “The water is too deep for us to drill with the technology and tools that we currently have,” Manga said, adding that we would need to colonize the planet first.

But, although the water may not be accessible for a long time, the study highlights the value of putting geophysical instruments on the surface, Manga said, noting that the mission’s focus wasn’t to look for water. “There are always surprises when we explore other planets,” Manga said, adding that the discovery could help scientists learn more about the geological history of Mars.

The finding has also reignited the imaginations of researchers and laypersons alike who long to find evidence of life somewhere in the universe. Because life requires liquid water, the discovery has caused much speculation that microbial life may have either existed in Mars’ distant past or may still live in the underground water.

Manga cautioned that it takes more than just water to make an environment habitable. It would also require an energy source. Hydrogen and natural radioactivity help to make microbial life possible on Earth, and there is no reason those same processes couldn’t also exist on Mars, he said. “But, being habitable doesn’t mean there is life.”

Danny Faulkner, astronomer and researcher for Answers in Genesis, notes that when secular scientists and others get excited about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, microbes are not what’s on their minds. They are thinking in line with evolutionary theories that, if primitive life exists somewhere, then maybe it is common throughout the universe. And if it is common, then it likely has evolved somewhere into higher life forms, perhaps into beings like us.

But, as Christians, Faulkner said, we know life does not arise spontaneously. It requires a Creator. “I’m not saying it’s impossible for God to have created life elsewhere in the universe. But I’m of the opinion that He hasn’t done so,” Faulkner said, adding that that would raise all kinds of theological dilemmas that aren’t supported by the Bible.

But, the possibility of a vast amount of liquid water beneath the surface of the planet Faulkner describes as “an amazing world of mountains and chasms much larger than anything on Earth,” remains exciting. As far back as 30 years ago, secular planetary scientists concluded a global flood once covered the surface of Mars, he told me. But they cannot determine what happened to all of that water. Finding a huge amount of liquid water under the surface would add evidence of a global Martian flood in the distant past.

Yet the same scientists that believe water once covered the entire red planet, dismiss the notion of a global flood on Earth, Faulkner said. Most secular scientists find that idea preposterous and scientifically impossible. But, he noted, they don’t find it preposterous on Mars. “Perhaps the Lord caused a global flood on Mars as an object lesson to show the scientists of today that such a thing could easily have happened on Earth,” he said.