An Ocean’s Worth of Water May Be Trapped Beneath Surface of Mars, New Study Says

The amount of water locked underground would fill a mile-deep ocean on Mars, scientists said.

View of the last selfie taken by NASA's InSight Mars lander on April 24, 2022. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via Reuters

Scientists suggest that liquid water may still exist on Mars, potentially concealed deep within the planet’s rocky outer crust.

The conclusion, published Aug. 12 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is based on a new analysis of data collected by NASA’s “InSight” lander. The three-legged, $814 million robot touched down at a plain just north of the red planet’s equator in 2018 and remained active for the next four Earth years, or two Martian years.