Think about Mars. It’s red and dusty. Most of all, it’s dry. Or . . . is it?

Scientists now think a huge ocean might lurk beneath the planet’s crust.

NASA released a study on Monday. The data comes from the Mars InSight lander. The Mars robot shut down two years ago. Before that, it collected information about more than 1,300 “marsquakes.” (Think earthquakes, but on Mars.)

Scientists studied data like the velocity (speed and direction) of the quakes. Their results suggested an ocean deep underground. How deep? Scientists think it’s seven to 12 miles beneath the surface.

Where did this ocean come from? Many scientists believe water once nearly covered Mars. But over time, that moisture vanished. Some of it may have drifted off into space. The rest may have seeped down into the ground. That would explain the newly discovered ocean!

It’s a big deal when scientists discover water on other planets. Life as we know it can’t exist without water. Where there’s water, there could be microscopic lifeforms. Still, NASA’s findings don’t necessarily mean Mars holds life, says ocean expert Vashan Wright. But there might be places where living creatures could survive.

Want to live in a Mars colony someday? Water on the planet would make that a lot more doable.

But don’t pack your bags yet. This isn’t the first time scientists thought they found water on Mars. In 1877, they spotted long canals on the Red Planet. Those lines turned out to be an optical illusion. 

To tell whether there’s really an ocean under Mars’ surface—and what that ocean is made of—scientists would need to drill. That’s no simple task. Even on Earth, no one has ever drilled deeper than about seven miles. That would barely reach the hidden sea. Plus, there’s the problem of hauling all that equipment to another planet!

Without Jesus, our souls are a bit like the surface of Mars—lifeless and dry. But Jesus gives us living water. That water is true life.

“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” — John 4:14