Reservoir of liquid water found deep in Martian rocks

Stamau123@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 348 points – Mars water: Liquid water reservoirs found under Martian crust
bbc.com

Scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water on Mars - deep in the rocky outer crust of the planet.

The findings come from a new analysis of data from Nasa’s Mars Insight Lander, which touched down on the planet back in 2018.

The lander carried a seismometer, which recorded four years' of vibrations - Mars quakes - from deep inside the Red Planet.

Analysing those quakes - and exactly how the planet moves - revealed "seismic signals" of liquid water.

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The analysis revealed reservoirs of water at depths of about six to 12 miles (10 to 20km) in the Martian crust.

The deepest man-made hole on earth is 8 miles deep.

https://www.uu.edu/dept/physics/scienceguys/2003Apr.cfm#:~:text=The%20deepest%20hole%20by%20far,research%20purposes%20beginning%20in%201970.

Would a deeper hole be easier to create on Mars due to the lower planetary mass? I would assume so.

Yeah, but the drill bit would need to be 140 million miles long just to reach Mars.

Nah just a 10 mile long pole, strong enough to break through planetary geological plates in a straight on blow, thrown really really really fast from earth.

If you don't care how long it takes to get there and can effectively use the ITN you don't even need to leave going that fast.

Side thought, all I can think of now is developing the technology to accelerate the rotation of some of these ITN "slingshot" planets to speeds where they become giant versions of those hotwheels motorized launcher tracks.

IIRC the problem was the ambient temp that deep being too hot causing mechanical failures. It's hard to dispose of waste heat when you have to pump it miles away.

You could probably drill much deeper into Mars before encountering that issue, though, since its molten rock is significantly deeper than Earth’s.