As Elon Musk says humanity needs to be multi-planetary. The first option we have to become multi-planetary species is the planet Mars. Mars is an earth-like planet in many aspects. But for humanity to live on mars we need essential resources like food & water. Getting these resources on mars will not be an easy task.
If we want to colonize mars then we need water that is drinkable and can be used for agriculture to grow food.
Is there water on mars?
Mars has polar ice caps. So, there is proof that water is present on mars. Not only the water is in the polar caps but also in other forms. NASA’s rovers have discovered other types of sources of water on mars.
Scientists have found that water is available in many forms. We’ll discuss how we can get water from these sources.
How much water is on mars compared to earth?
The Earth’s 71% of the surface is covered with water. As of now the only visible source of water on mars is its polar ice caps. According to Mars Odyssey neutron spectrometer observations, if the polar ice caps on mars spread evenly on its surface then it will cover around 14% of the Martian surface.
So you can consider there is a minimum of 14% water available on mars which can cover % of its surface.
What are the sources of water on mars?
Polar ice caps
The ice caps are definitely one of the visible sources of water on Mars. As mentioned earlier the ice cap can give 14% of Mar’s water.
These polar ice caps are present on both the north & south poles. The north pole has a temperature of about -150 degrees & the south pole has a temperature of about -60 degrees.
Recently NASA found that there is huge liquid water underneath the south pole of mars. How to get to the underneath source of water is a completely new thing.
To get this water from the ice cap you will have to drill on the ice caps and then heat it & pump out the water from the ice caps.
Hydrous minerals
Around 4 billion years ago in the initial phase of Mars, Mars was covered with a huge ocean called the Ocean Borealis. This ocean covered around one-third surface of Mars. The planet’s atmospheric conditions at the time were suitable to hold liquid water. Over the years temperature, climate, and geological changes gradually vapourised some water & the remaining got pushed deep into the ground surface. It is believed that 99% of Mars’s water is trapped within the planet’s crust, locked inside the special rocks called hydrous minerals.
What are these Hydrous minerals?
Hydrous minerals are the rocks that hold the water or have the chemical components of water such as Hydrogen & oxygen in their chemical structure. To get the water from these hydrous minerals, we have to crush them into pieces and then bake them at high temperatures.
NASA has found many spots on mars where these minerals are found in high concentration.
Is the water found on Mars drinkable?
Once you found the water on Mars the next obvious question is,” is it drinkable water?”
Sadly the answer is NO. The water you will extract on mars will not be drinkable.
This water contains heavy minerals, salt, and much other stuff. Because of the high concentration of minerals and salts in the martian water. The water will not even be useful for agricultural use.
So before we use this water we have to make it usable and drinkable.
How to make it drinkable?
On earth, we already have many water desalination processes. Where we use ocean water to convert it into simple potable water. We can use some of these technologies on Mars. But the biggest problem will be the energy required to run this massive machinery to convert water.
There is another method to get water. Such as using this robot developed to capture the moisture in the atmosphere & convert it into water. But mars is a dry planet and while this method can be useful on earth in many water lacking areas but its effectiveness on mars look very minimum.
Summary
There is the availability of water on mars from many sources. We need to figure out the methods to extract water from these sources. After extracting this water with heavy minerals & salts we will have to figure out to make it potable. Until then Mars colonization does not look possible.
If you want to know more about other planets, then check out this section on this website.
