Mars’ water came from outer space

By James Urquhart2022-11-18T09:54:00

A photorealistic graphic of the red planet as it hangs in the blackness of space. Its poles are covered in thick white layers of ice, only around the equator a band of reddish ground shows.

Source: © NASA/JPL/Brown University

Asteroids from the outer solar system would have delivered enough water to cover the red planet in a 300m-deep ocean

Asteroids bombarding Mars in its early history could have delivered organic molecules and vast amounts of water – enough to cover the entire planet 300m deep.¹ The finding offers a glimpse at where Mars’ water came from as well as how it could have once had the necessary ingredients for life to emerge.