May 29 (UPI) — NASA scientists have discovered evidence that could help answer questions surrounding the history of water loss on Mars.
“The cannonball, in this case, is the heavy ions crashing into the atmosphere really fast and splashing neutral atoms and molecules out.”
Scientists have an abundance of evidence that water existed on the Martian surface billions of years ago, but they have been trying to find out where it went.
Research has shown that when Mars lost its magnetic field, its surface was exposed to solar wind storms that allowed the liquid water to escape into space.
But that does not explain why the once-thick Martian atmosphere was almost entirely stripped away.
May 29 (UPI) — NASA researchers have found evidence that may add to the understanding of Mars’ water loss history.
Following ten years of investigation by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric Volatile Evolution) mission, the new study reveals evidence of an escape process called “sputtering,” in which atoms are knocked out of the atmosphere by so-called “charge particles,” the announcement stated.
“It’s like doing a cannonball in a pool,” said Shannon Curry, a co-author of the research report and a principal investigator with the MAVEN mission. In this instance, the cannonball is the heavy ions that quickly crash into the atmosphere, splattering neutral atoms and molecules in the process. “.”.
While there is ample evidence that water was present on the Martian surface billions of years ago, scientists have been attempting to determine its exact location. According to research, when Mars’ magnetic field disappeared, solar wind storms exposed its surface, allowing the liquid water to leak out into space.
However, that doesn’t explain why the Martian atmosphere, which was once thick, was nearly completely destroyed. According to a recent report, sputtering may be able to explain it.
Curry went on, “It’s like we found the ashes from a campfire,”. However, we wanted a direct view of the fire—in this case, sputtering.
In order to observe the phenomenon, the team spent years measuring various atmospheric factors at low altitudes in both daylight and dark using a set of MAVEN instruments.
“A new type of map of sputtered argon in relation to the solar wind was created by scientists using the data from these instruments,” the NASA statement stated. “This map demonstrated sputtering in real time and showed the presence of argon at high altitudes in precise locations where the energetic particles crashed into the atmosphere and splashed out argon. “..”.
Researchers were able to replicate the conditions that might have made the planet habitable billions of years ago, but they also identified at least one of the reasons why the Martian surface has lost water.