Is water still below the surface of Mars?

New research on meteorites has revealed the reason why water disappears from the surface of Mars.

>>> Iswater still flowing on Mars?

Much of the water has evaporated into space within the first half billion years of the red planet, while the remainder turns into ice and may have formed ice reservoirs deep beneath the Martian surface.

Picture 1 of Is water still below the surface of Mars?
Scene on the surface of Mars - (Photo: Reuters)

'The new study now reinforces the hypothesis that large volumes of ice are still lurking somewhere on the planet,' Space.com quoted Nagoya University's Hiroyuki Kurokawa.

According to scientists, most of the water on Mars may all escape because the planet's gravity is not enough to hold them in the atmosphere.

Over time, water on Mars evaporates and dissipates into space.

To calculate this result, the researchers analyzed three meteorites of different ages, from 4.5 billion years ago, to 4.1 billion years, and from 170 to 180 million years.

They create a timeline that shows the process of losing Mars. The results show that the red planet may lose the most water between 4.5 and 4.1 billion years ago.

'There must still be a lot of water on Mars today,' said Kurokawa, who led the report to appear in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.