Scientists from NASA have calculated that there are over 4 billion years ago, enough water on Mars must have been for the entire planet to cover, though it is according to the calculations is more likely that the water is concentrated on the northern plain.
Today in Science appeared the article describes the methods used to collect the data and those conclusions to come. The team received data from three different telescopes on the earth’s surface: the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope in Chile, the Keck II telescope and the NASA infrared telescope in Hawaii. The scientists measured the amount of water and the amount of HDO, a variant of water in which a hydrogen atom is replaced by deuterium in the atmosphere of Mars. HDO is also known as ‘heavy water’, not to be confused with “heavy water”.
The team investigated the water loss and the ratio of water and heavy water over six years. Because HDO is heavier than normal water, escapes less easily into space. That means that, in the course of time more and more heavy water is left. The blog Allesoversterrenkunde writes that the Mars atmosphere by a factor of 7 to 8 with heavy water is enriched. This suggests that the planet a quantity of water is lost 6.5 times as large as the amount in the current polar caps is saved. So it could be calculated that the surface of Mars 4.5 billion years ago may have up to twenty percent with water was covered. The research also indicates that Mars once differences in atmosphere were in and that the climate, seasons, was distributed.
Further research will tell if and how much water is there in underground reservoirs, which may be ‘missing’ water explains.