 | This article needs to be updated. (October 2015) |
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE instrument has taken many images that strongly suggest that Mars has had a rich history of water-related processes. Many features of Mars appear to be created by large amounts of water. That Mars once possessed large amounts of water was confirmed by isotope studies in a study published in March 2015, by a team of scientists showing that the ice caps were highly enriched with deuterium, heavy hydrogen, by seven times as much as the Earth. This means that Mars has lost a volume of water 6.5 times what is stored in today's polar caps. The water for a time would have formed an ocean in the low-lying Mare Boreum. The amount of water could have covered the planet about 140 meters, but was probably in an ocean that in places would be almost 1 mile deep.[1][2]
A major discovery by HiRISE was finding evidence of hot springs. These may have contained life and may now contain well-preserved fossils of life.
- ^ "Mars: The planet that lost an ocean's worth of water".
- ^ Villanueva, L.; Mumma; Novak, R.; Käufl, H.; Hartogh, P.; Encrenaz, T.; Tokunaga, A.; Khayat, A.; Smith, M. (2015). "Strong water isotopic anomalies in the martian atmosphere: Probing current and ancient reservoirs". Science. 348 (6231): 218–221. Bibcode:2015Sci...348..218V. doi:10.1126/science.aaa3630. PMID 25745065. S2CID 206633960.