Mars had enough water to cover the … – Univision

NASA scientists found that Mars had an ocean about 4,500 million years it occupied 19 percent of the planet does, but with a volume to completely cover according to a study published in the journal Science .

“Our study provides a good estimate of water that was on Mars”

The team led by Geronimo Villanueva Argentine engineer estimated that, if it were spread evenly with a depth of 137 meters, the amount of water that housed the planet could have covered completely.

However, they believe the Martian ocean, with about 20 million cubic kilometers and up to 1.6 kilometers deep in some places concentrated on the plains of the northern hemisphere and did not cover the entire planet, but 19 percent.

comparison This extension would be greater in proportion to the Atlantic Ocean in the Earth, which occupies 17 percent.

On the geology, this part of the planet has long been regarded by scientists as the area more conducive to contain an ocean, which should have covered 19% of Mars. In comparison, the Atlantic occupies 17% of the surface of the Earth, added the Agency France Press .

“Our study provides a good estimate of water was on Mars, to determine the amounts that were lost in space,” says Geronimo Villanueva, a researcher at Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland (east) and one of the main authors.

“With this research, you can better understand the history of water on Mars, “he added.

Among thousands of candidates were selected hundred applicants to travel to Mars on a mission.

investigate specialized instruments

Efe points out that researchers have used the observatory in the Atacama Desert (Chile), the observatory WM Keck Observatory located in Hawaii and the Infrared Telescope NASA also in Hawaii to study the atmosphere of Mars.

Thanks to the accuracy of these instruments, the researchers analyzed the trace two different water particles in the atmosphere of Mars, the common H2O and HDO its variant, which contains a heavier variant of hydrogen called deuterium.

The team analyzed the levels of both molecules several times over nearly six years and found that, while the heavy water is trapped in the cycle Martian water, common water tends to escape into space.

If the ratio of HDO and H2O compared on ice the poles of Mars with water trapped in a Martian meteorite 4,500 years old, scientists can measure atmospheric changes subsequent to determine the amount of water that has escaped into space and at what rate, and therefore how much there.

“With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars,” said Villanueva, a scientist at NASA Goddard.

“Our study provides a robust estimate of the amount of water that Mars once had, by determining how much was lost of the water into space, “he said.

Villanueva also suggests that the planet was wetter than it had hitherto thought, opening the possibility that it was a less inhospitable place the conditions for the evolution of life was given.

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