Mars has been the destination and area of research for scientists from decade who are looking for a planet similar to that of our Earth. As of now what has been reported based on that we can say that the planet is very dusty, dry as well as completely unreceptive. Scientists have been collecting evidences which as indicated that the planet as would have been temperate as well as wetter probably a billion years ago. According to the paper published by NASA scientist, they are carrying out research to find the amount of water would have been present of Mars and where exactly it disappeared. This research paper also highlighted that probably there was an ancient ocean on the planet which covered nearly one-fifth of its surface.

Water past of Mars:

The researchers made use of the Keck II telescope and the Infrared Telescope Facility of NASA in Hawaii to get a better understanding about the Mars water issues. They also look into the issue with the ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The scientist gathered data pertaining to the atmosphere of Mars for six years and carried out analysis of the ice caps for water composition. While the hydrogen and oxygen atoms remain similar to earth, they anticipated that the form of the hydrogen atom can change the property of water. They found that the planet contains heavy water comprising of an extra neutron called the deuterium. Mars contain high ratio of deuterium to hydrogen.

The deuterium:

As per the scientists, Mars would have an atmosphere which would have been removed by the solar wind leaving the evaporation of the water nearly 4.5 billion years ago. But the water with deuterium would have remained on the surface leaving a naturally high ratio between deuterium water and the regular water. This ratio helped the scientists from NASA to predict the amount of actual water that could have been on the planet millions of years ago. The findings of the study of the scientists indicated that the planet’s ice caps only comprise of the nearly 13 percent of the ancient ocean.

They further added that the original amount of water on Mars would have been able to easily cover the entire surface of the planet taking it to a depth of 137 meters. However they also added that this does not mean the water level could have been same around the planet. According to the topology conducted by the scientists, they found that there are vast planes in the northern hemisphere, which is mainly having a lower elevation when compared to the rest of the planet. They state that the sea might have existed here and would have covered 20 percent of the planet.

The habitable stage on Mars might take quite a long time. The data recorded by the scientist indicated that the amount of water that would have been present on Mars would have allowed a life to come into existence on the planet before it became the so called red planet.