New Study Challenges Long-Held Theory of Fate of Mars Water Source: NASA
Mars
The new science results indicate that a large quantity of the Red Planet s water is trapped in its crust rather than having escaped into space.
Billions of years ago, according to geological evidence, abundant water flowed across Mars and collected into pools, lakes, and deep oceans. New NASA-funded research shows a substantial quantity of its water - between 30 and 99% - is trapped within minerals in the planet s crust, challenging the current theory that due to the Red Planet s low gravity, its water escaped into space.
Early Mars was thought to have enough water to have covered the whole planet in an ocean roughly 100 to 1,500 meters (330 to 4,920 feet) deep - a volume roughly equivalent to half of Earth s Atlantic Ocean. While some of this water undeniably disappeared from Mars via atmospheric escape, the new findings, published in the latest issue of Science, conclude it does not
New Study Challenges Long-Held Theory of Fate of Mars Water
Global View of Mars From Viking Orbiter: This global view of Mars is composed of about 100 Viking Orbiter images. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS. Download image ›
The new science results indicate that a large quantity of the Red Planet’s water is trapped in its crust rather than having escaped into space.
Billions of years ago, according to geological evidence, abundant water flowed across Mars and collected into pools, lakes, and deep oceans. New NASA-funded research shows a substantial quantity of its water – between 30 and 99% – is trapped within minerals in the planet’s crust, challenging the current theory that due to the Red Planet’s low gravity, its water escaped into space.
March 17, 2021Caltech
Billions of years ago, the Red Planet was far more blue; according to evidence still found on the surface, abundant water flowed across Mars and forming pools, lakes, and deep oceans. The question, then, is where did all that water go?
The answer: nowhere. According to new research from Caltech and JPL, a significant portion of Mars’s water between 30 and 99 percent is trapped within minerals in the planet’s crust. The research challenges the current theory that the Red Planet’s water escaped into space.
The Caltech/JPL team found that around four billion years ago, Mars was home to enough water to have covered the whole planet in an ocean about 100 to 1,500 meters deep; a volume roughly equivalent to half of Earth’s Atlantic Ocean. But, by a billion years later, the planet was as dry as it is today. Previously, scientists seeking to explain what happened to the flowing water on Mars had suggested that it escaped into space, victim of Mars’s low gra
New data challenges the long-held theory that all of Mars's water escaped into space Billions of years ago, the Red Planet was far more blue; according.