Mars Previously Hosted a Wet Climate with Dense Atmosphere; Disappeared Around 3 Billion Years Ago. Latest Research Reveals Potential Discovery of Lost Atmosphere and Water.
Revised Article:
Mars, dusty and lifeless as it appears today, once boasted a climate teeming with rivers, lakes, maybe even oceans, and a thick atmosphere enveloping its surface – much like the Earth's in the ancient past. However, today, the Martian landscape presents an arid, blood-red desert under a scorched butterscotch sky. But what caused this drastic transformation, leading to the disappearance of not just its water, but also its once rich carbon atmosphere?
Curiosity and speculation have marked human interest in Mars, with ancient writers conjuring visions of dense red-hued jungles and advanced alien civilizations. NASA's Mariner 4 mission in 1964 shattered those fantasies, revealing a chilling, cold, and desolate world. Over time, arriving missions began to provide higher-resolution images, unveiling deep canyons, fan-shaped deltas, and regions strewn with boulders reminiscent of flood deposits.
Indeed, NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers opened a new chapter in Mars exploration by discovering sedimentary rocks and minerals traditionally found in the presence of liquid water. Meanwhile, orbital spacecraft examined the planet's meager atmosphere, revealing an overabundance of heavy isotopes, a strong indication of significant atmospheric loss.
Such observations suggested that Mars, once bathed in water and carbon-rich atmosphere, experienced a cataclysmic event around 3.6 billion years ago, which led to the disappearance of its water and drastic reduction of its carbon atmosphere.
However, a more intricate theory began to emerge as researchers found that atmospheric loss could not be the sole culprit. Simulations showed that it could barely account for a fraction of Mars' missing water, and didn’t clarify why the carbon levels had dropped so sharply.
That's where recent findings have brought a tantalizing twist to the story. In August 2024, geophysicists announced that they had discovered the reclusive water reservoirs deep beneath Mars’ surface for over three billion years. By studying seismic vibrations measured by NASA's InSight lander, the team analyzed changes in the seismic waves revealing a subterranean aquifer that could flood the Martian surface to a depth of between 1 and 2 kilometers (about a mile).
Only a month later, another team of planetary scientists from MIT proposed the discovery of Mars' missing atmosphere, hiding beneath the Martian soil. They linked the Martian atmosphere's loss with the formation of a specific type of clay mineral, also found on Mars, that traps and retains carbon dioxide and methane molecules for billions of years.
These revelations have opened a new chapter in the exploration of Mars, making future explorations more promising than ever before. While extracting Martian water in bulk from underground depths may prove challenging, the trapped methane is relatively closer to the surface and could one day serve as a valuable source of fuel for future Martian explorers.
As NASA and the Chinese space agency continue to pursue human missions to Mars, studies on extracting these resources could revolutionize our understanding of Earth's neighbor and pave the way for human colonization in the years ahead.
Insight Data Used:
- The missing water on Mars was found deep beneath the surface in August 2024. (NASA's InSight lander)
- The lost Martian atmosphere might be hidden beneath the planet, trapped in specific clay minerals. (MIT team)
- These clay minerals form due to water dripping through Mars's crust reacting with the rock, creating a reservoir of trapped water and methane.
- The trapped methane beneath Mars's surface could be a potential source of fuel for future missions to Mars.
- NASA and the Chinese space agency have plans to send humans to Mars within the next few decades. (Both NASA and Chinese space agency)
- The discovery of reclusive water reservoirs deep beneath Mars' surface, as reported by NASA's InSight lander in August 2024, has shed new light on the planet's past climate.
- Researchers at MIT have proposed an intriguing theory, suggesting that the lost Martian atmosphere might be hidden beneath the planet, trapped within specific clay minerals.
- The trapped methane, found beneath Mars' surface, could potentially serve as a valuable source of fuel for future exploration missions to the red planet, according to studies regarding the extraction of Martian resources.
