Enormous hidden ocean discovered under Mars could contain life

[Grim Reaper 6]

Geophysicists have discovered a gigantic hidden ocean beneath Mars' surface, and they say it could harbor life.

The massive underground reservoir, discovered using seismic data taken by NASA's InSight Lander, contains enough liquid to cover the entire planet with a mile of water. However, it is far too deep to access by any known means. 

Trapped inside a layer of fractured rock 7 to 13 miles (11.5 to 20 kilometers) beneath the Red Planet's outer crust, reaching the water would require a drilling operation that has yet-to-be achieved on Earth. .

https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/enormous-hidden-ocean-discovered-under-mars-could-contain-life

[MrAnderson]

1 hour ago, Grim Reaper 6 said:

Geophysicists have discovered a gigantic hidden ocean beneath Mars' surface, and they say it could harbor life.

The massive underground reservoir, discovered using seismic data taken by NASA's InSight Lander, contains enough liquid to cover the entire planet with a mile of water. However, it is far too deep to access by any known means. 

Trapped inside a layer of fractured rock 7 to 13 miles (11.5 to 20 kilometers) beneath the Red Planet's outer crust, reaching the water would require a drilling operation that has yet-to-be achieved on Earth. .

https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/enormous-hidden-ocean-discovered-under-mars-could-contain-life

I was to create a thread but I see it's already here.

Great discovery but not surprising. Liquid water exists in larger quantities than we thought in many places in our solar system.

Here is a BBC article on the discovery

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxl849j77ko

Reservoir of liquid water found deep in Martian rocks

 

[MrAnderson]

1 hour ago, Grim Reaper 6 said:

Geophysicists have discovered a gigantic hidden ocean beneath Mars' surface, and they say it could harbor life.

The massive underground reservoir, discovered using seismic data taken by NASA's InSight Lander, contains enough liquid to cover the entire planet with a mile of water. However, it is far too deep to access by any known means. 

Trapped inside a layer of fractured rock 7 to 13 miles (11.5 to 20 kilometers) beneath the Red Planet's outer crust, reaching the water would require a drilling operation that has yet-to-be achieved on Earth. .

https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/enormous-hidden-ocean-discovered-under-mars-could-contain-life

The amount of water increases the chances we find some kind of life there. One step closer to answer the big question. Let's drill... We can't do it at the moment... Imagine what happens if the water finds its way out and reaches the surface.

Edited August 12 by MrAnderson

[Grim Reaper 6]

2 minutes ago, MrAnderson said:

I was to create a thread but I see it's already here.

Great discovery but not surprising. Liquid water exists in larger quantities than we thought in many places in our solar system.

Here is a BBC article on the discovery

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxl849j77ko

Reservoir of liquid water found deep in Martian rocks

 

I certainly agree with you, recently they found water suspended in space around a star that was forming. With water being this plentiful it also supports the theory that Carbon Based life is also likely to be the standard base for life in the Universe.

[Grim Reaper 6]

4 minutes ago, MrAnderson said:

The amount of water increases the chances we find some kind of life there. One step closer to answer the big question. Let's drill... We can't do it at the moment... Imagine what happens if the water finds its way out and reaches the surface.

That would be very interesting, but with Mars in it’s current state water reaching the surface wouldn’t pool, it would most likely evaporate like Mars oceans did millions of years ago.

[jethrofloyd]

Great discovery, but I still believe more in the interstelar life under the ice sheets of the moons Europe and Encaladus.

[MrAnderson]

14 minutes ago, jethrofloyd said:

Great discovery, but I still believe more in the interstelar life under the ice sheets of the moons Europe and Encaladus.

With so much water in our solar system I think it's a matter of when we find signs of life and life itself and not if we find life. I think top destination is Europa but Mars could well support microbial life.

[Grim Reaper 6]

On 8/15/2024 at 7:03 AM, MrAnderson said:

With so much water in our solar system I think it's a matter of when we find signs of life and life itself and not if we find life. I think top destination is Europa but Mars could well support microbial life.

Keeping this Ocean in mind, we may find more than microbial life. Mars is not a dead planet it still has earthquakes and it has a molten layer around a metal core.

Daily briefing: A unique layer of molten rock envelops Mars’s core:  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03356-0#:~:text=In the interior of Mars,planet after a meteorite impact.

[MrAnderson]

1 hour ago, Grim Reaper 6 said:

Keeping this Ocean in mind, we may find more than microbial life. Mars is not a dead planet it still has earthquakes and it has a molten layer around a metal core.

Daily briefing: A unique layer of molten rock envelops Mars’s core:  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03356-0#:~:text=In the interior of Mars,planet after a meteorite impact.

I agree and said the same thing about Europa but microbial life is the first thing that comes to mind and why not some more complex life forms. But surely times are very exciting and isn't going to be long until we make the breakthrough imo

[Grim Reaper 6]

1 hour ago, MrAnderson said:

I agree and said the same thing about Europa but microbial life is the first thing that comes to mind and why not some more complex life forms. But surely times are very exciting and isn't going to be long until we make the breakthrough imo

I certainly agree, it’s only a matter of time before life is found in our Solar system.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

21 minutes ago, Grim Reaper 6 said:

I certainly agree, it’s only a matter of time before life is found in our Solar system.

IF it exists. You can't discovery what isn't there and the fact is that we don't know whether it is or not. There are just too many unknowns to make a prediction like that. The default position of good science, until evidence is provide otherwise is, "we don't know," and that's exactly where we are at the moment.

[Grim Reaper 6]

6 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

IF it exists. You can't discovery what isn't there and the fact is that we don't know whether it is or not. There are just too many unknowns to make a prediction like that. The default position of good science, until evidence is provide otherwise is, "we don't know," and that's exactly where we are at the moment.

Thanks for your post!

[MrAnderson]

7 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

IF it exists. You can't discovery what isn't there and the fact is that we don't know whether it is or not. There are just too many unknowns to make a prediction like that. The default position of good science, until evidence is provide otherwise is, "we don't know," and that's exactly where we are at the moment.

That's correct, we don't know at the moment but if there is liguis water around in large quantities together with other factors then there is a good possibility we could find something there.

There is still a controversy whether we have already discovered signs of microbial life on a rock that came from Mars back in 1996. Even though this story hasn't been followed the question hasn't been answered yet.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

13 hours ago, MrAnderson said:

That's correct, we don't know at the moment but if there is liguis water around in large quantities together with other factors then there is a good possibility we could find something there.

We don't know if there is a good possibility we could find life there... we know that it's a good place to look, not the same thing.

We know that, on Earth, where there is water there is life, but it is incorrect to assume that the same is true elsewhere. We know how evolution works and we know how biochemistry works, so we know the best places to look. What people (including yourself) do is conflate evolution and abiogenesis.

We know how life evolved after it started but we don't know the exact circumstances of HOW it started. It's like knowing some of the rules to a game. We know that to win all the dice have to land on a one, but we don't know how many side the dice have, how many dice there are or how many throws we get.

Until we understand abiogenesis more completely we may know where to look for life but we don't have a clue how likely we are to find it.

[Montello]

Maybe some kind life under surface