Red-Blue Planet

So beautiful, so tragic:

An ancient ocean on Mars once held more water than the Arctic Ocea on Earth, NASA scientists say, according to a press release from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

Scientists measured water in the Red Planet’s atmosphere using the most powerful telescopes on Earth, which includes the telescope at the observatory. Their findings will be published in the journal Science on March 6.

Scientists estimate that the young planet Mars had enough water to cover its entire surface in about 450 feet of water, but it is more likely that the oceans covered half of the planet’s surface and reached depths greater than a mile in some areas.

The tragic part is that the same study posits that 87% of that early Martian water was lost to space.