INSPIRATION

LIQUIFER, the company, was launched in the summer of 2003 when a host of probes left Earth for the Red Planet, marking a new era in Mars exploration.

The name LIQUIFER was inspired by the White Mars Hypothesis put forth by Australian geologist Dr. Nick Hoffman. As per the Hoffman model, just as we have natural subterranean reservoirs of H2O on Earth called ‘aquifers’, there could be underground pools of CO2 on Mars called ‘liquifers’.

Martian liquifers, as per the Hoffman model, build up under some sort of seal, for example the permafrost layers close to the surface. When the fragile seal breaks, the CO2 explosively expands. Then a cold, dense cloud erupts and sweep across the surface, carrying abrasive debris with it, chiseling out the channels and gullies seen in the satellite images of the Martian terrain.

Hoffman’s iconoclastic hypothesis challenges the conventional theories that propose a previously warm and wet planet. Hoffman's idea is still a minority view, and has not been well received by those hoping to find life on Mars. A planet that has been warm and wet at some stage is necessary for life - not a history of cold and dryness. But evidence points strongly towards Hoffman's White Mars theory.