Existing data returned in >40 years of planetary missions to Mars provided a good basis to understand that an ocean never existed on the surface of the planet during its whole history. The presence of environmental indicators like unaltered jarosite and olivine deposited by the early volcanic activity can be seen as evidence that liquid water was never abundant nor widespread on the surface of Mars since the pre‐Noachian or Noachian at least. There is a dramatic mismatch with the water equivalent volume of the outflow channels sources with the volume needed to form an ocean. The ubiquitous presence of large volcanoes, with their huge lava fields exactly where liquid water was claimed to be abundant during the Noachian age, makes now very clear that lava and not water was involved in the formation of the outflow channels and the fluvial networks. As a consequence, cheaper robotic exploration might be favored with respect to the ambitious human exploration program planned for Mars. Unless enough water supplies will be brought to the equatorial regions from the poles through long pipelines, or from nearby asteroids through cargo ships, it will be very difficult to exploit the rich equatorial resources brought up from the mantle by the massive volcanism that characterized the early history of the planet. Digging deeply the equatorial regions searching for water would be too expensive, of uncertain reward, and thus unpractical.

中文翻译：

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火星历史上海洋的缺乏与水的命运

超过40年的行星任务返回火星的现有数据，为了解整个星球上从未存在过海洋提供了良好的基础。早期火山活动沉积的未改变的黄钾铁矾和橄榄石等环境指标的存在可被视为证据表明，至少自前诺亚纪或诺亚纪以来，液态水从未在火星表面富集或扩散过。流出通道源的当量水与形成海洋所需的水量存在巨大的不匹配。大型火山无处不在，其巨大的熔岩场恰好是在诺亚纪时期声称液态水丰富的地方，这使得现在很清楚，熔岩而不是水参与了流出通道和河流网络的形成。结果，相对于为火星计划的雄心勃勃的人类探索计划，廉价的机器人探索可能会受到青睐。除非有足够的水从两极通过长输管道或从附近的小行星通过货船从赤道带入赤道地区，否则将很难利用因早期火山爆发而形成的大规模火山活动从地幔中带出的丰富赤道资源。地球的历史。深入挖掘赤道地区寻找水源将过于昂贵，回报不确定，因此不切实际。或通过货船从附近的小行星上开采，将很难利用地球早期历史所特有的大规模火山活动从地幔带出的丰富赤道资源。深入挖掘赤道地区寻找水源将过于昂贵，回报不确定，因此不切实际。或通过货船从附近的小行星上开采，将很难利用地球早期历史所特有的大规模火山活动从地幔带出的丰富赤道资源。深入挖掘赤道地区寻找水源将过于昂贵，回报不确定，因此不切实际。