NASA revealing several key scientific findings by its MAVEN spacecraft regarding the past Martian atmosphere on Thursday.
New data collected from the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission has allowed researchers to determine the rate at which the Martian atmosphere is currently being stripped of gas by solar wind, NASA said.
It has long been speculated that the Martian atmosphere was once similar to Earth’s, which allowed for the presence of a warm landscape with an abundance of flowing water. However, with this new finding, scientists have determined that Mars is losing a quarter pound of its atmosphere to space every second, thanks to fast-moving charged particles emitted from the sun, notes CNN.
The new findings reveal that the Martian atmosphere erodes at a much faster rate during solar storms, periods of intense solar wind.
“Mars appears to have had a thick atmosphere warm enough to support liquid water which is a key ingredient and medium for life as we currently know it,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator and astronaut for the NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
“Understanding what happened to the Mars atmosphere will inform our knowledge of the dynamics and evolution of any planetary atmosphere," Frunsfeld explained. "Learning what can cause changes to a planet’s environment from one that could host microbes at the surface to one that doesn’t is important to know, and is a key question that is being addressed in NASA’s journey to Mars.”
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