Curiosity Rover Discloses That Mars Lost its Atmosphere 4bn Years Ago

Curiosity Rover Discloses That Mars Lost its Atmosphere 4bn Years Ago

Curiosity Rover Discloses That Mars Lost its Atmosphere 4bn Years Ago

Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) has measured the abundance of different gases and also isotopes within the Martian atmosphere.

SAM checked the ratios of various isotopes from heavier to lighter isotopes of carbon and oxygen from the carbon dioxide that produces most of the Martian atmosphere. Isotopes are variants of the same chemical element who have different atomic weights while they have different number of neurons.

The measurements said the existing Martian atmosphere is made from heavy isotopes of carbon and oxygen as opposed to earlier proportions discovered in the unprocessed trash that formed Mars. This gives clues that explains why Mars lost its air and why it keeps thinning.

"As the atmosphere was lost, the signature with the process was baked into the isotopic ratio," said Paul Mahaffy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, that's the key investigator for SAM and lead author of one of many two papers about Curiosity.

Certain variables including the persistent existence of water about the planet's surface way back when, provide clues that previously Mars stood a thicker atmosphere. The enhancement of heavier isotopes in fractional co2 gas indicates an operation of loss from the top of the atmosphere.

Curiosity simultaneously measured exactly the same pattern in isotopes of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. Before this, the enrichment of heavier isotopes was measured on Mars plus gas bubbles which were seen in Mars meteorites. Measurements of such meteorites offer clues regarding the Martian atmospheric loss. They assume that some 4 billion years ago the Martian atmosphere was torn apart due to a catastrophic event.

The interest rate of which Mars happens to be losing its atmosphere will likely be measured by MAVEN mission that will launch in November of this year.