NASA's latest research findings have finally found evidence supporting Mars's current atmospheric conditions. An announcement was made yesterday by scientists at NASA headquarters in Washington, where they confirmed that solar winds stripped Mars of its atmosphere, transforming the then warm and watery planet into today's barren and lifeless one.
The space agency said that the process is still occurring where the upper atmospheric layer of Mars is being slowly eroded. Scientists believe that this discovery will shed more light on the planet's history of evolution and future habitability scenarios.
John Grunsfeld, a NASA astronaut said, "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, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA. Understanding what happened to the Mars atmosphere will inform our knowledge of the dynamics and evolution of any planetary atmosphere."
"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," he further explained.
Nearly 4.2 billion moons ago, Mars had an atmosphere similar to Earth's - it was warm, wet and habitable. But now, it's a vast expanse of barrenness with an atmosphere chiefly made of carbon dioxide. Because it's protective magnetic cover was stripped off by solar winds, the planet has transformed into a dry and arid one, greatly reducing its habitability.
Solar winds have a fierce temperature - as high as 1 million degree Celcius - which makes it impossible for the Sun to hold them back. Once released, they fly in every direction possible, traveling at a massive speed of 800 km per second. And during solar storms, the erosion of planetary atmosphere becomes even fiercer.
Also, because Mars has been robbed of its atmosphere and is located far away from the Sun, it has become much colder than the Earth - with an average temperature of -60 degree Celcius, which drops further to -125 degree Celcius in winters around the poles.
This current discovery was made by the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, the Martian spacecraft that records information on Mars's weather.
The findings will help scientists to understand the current rate at which the planet's atmosphere is being eroded.
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