Water on Mars, a mystery that still generates a lot of ink! Scientists are convinced that the red planet was once teeming with liquid water, but where has it passed?
The planet Mars has fascinated scientists for decades, particularly for its aquatic past. There is ample evidence of abundant water in its history: river valleys, minerals formed only in the presence of liquid water, and gigantic channels carved by floods. But today, Mars appears as an arid desert. What happened?
A recent theory suggested the presence of significant quantities of liquid water beneath the Martian surface. However, this hypothesis has recently been challenged, rekindling the debate over the fate of Martian water.
Seismic data from interpret
In 2024, a team led by Vaughan Wright analyzed seismic data from NASA's InSight mission. Their conclusion: the average crust of Mars, between 10 and 12 km deep, would be composed of fractured igneous rocks saturated with water. According to their estimates, this water would represent the equivalent of a layer 1 to 2 km thick if it were distributed uniformly over the entire surface of the planet.
But Bruce Jakosky, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, offers an alternative interpretation of the same data. In a letter published in the journal PNAS, he suggests that pore spaces in the Martian crust could also contain solid ice or be simply empty, while explaining Insight's seismic observations.
Jakosky does not completely reject the possibility of liquid water, but he considerably expands the range of estimates. According to him, the amount of water could vary from zero to 2 km equivalent thickness.
The interpretation of Martian data is quite complicated, hence the need for future missions to refine our understanding. The mystery of water on Mars is far from being solved, and the debate promises to continue to animate the scientific community for a long time to come. While waiting for new missions capable of unraveling this mystery, the quest for Martian water remains one of the major challenges of space exploration, with crucial implications for the search for extraterrestrial life and future manned missions to the red planet.
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