Sun  Planets and Moons  ID: 11037

MAVEN: Mars Atmospheric Loss

Released on November 5, 2013
When you take a look at Mars, you probably wouldn't think that it looks like a nice place to live. It's dry, it's dusty, and there's practically no atmosphere. But some scientists think that Mars may have once looked like a much nicer place to live, with a thicker atmosphere, cloudy skies, and possibly even liquid water flowing over the surface. So how did Mars transform from a warm, wet world to a cold, barren desert? NASA's MAVEN spacecraft will give us a clearer idea of how Mars lost its atmosphere (and thus its water), and scientists think that several processes have had an impact.

Learn more about these processes in the videos below!

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SPUTTERING How did Mars, a once wet planet, lose its early atmosphere? One possibility is through a process called "sputtering," in which atoms are knocked away from the atmosphere due to impacts with energetic particles.

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NEUTRAL PROCESSES Scientists think that the collision of neutral hydrogen molecules may have helped to drive the Martian atmosphere into space over billions of years.

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PLASMA PROCESSES Mars's thick early atmosphere was likely lost to space, and the Sun is a potential culprit. When high-energy solar photons strike the upper Martian atmosphere they can ionize gas molecules, causing the atmosphere to erode over time.

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Credits

Chris Smith (HTSI): Lead Animator
Chris Smith (HTSI): Video Editor
Chris Smith (HTSI): Narrator
Dan Gallagher (USRA): Narrator
Chris Smith (HTSI): Producer
Bruce Jakosky (LASP): Scientist
Chris Smith (HTSI): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11037

Mission:
MAVEN: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN

This item is part of these series:
MAVEN
MAVEN Science Videos
Narrated Movies

Goddard TV Tape:
G2012-098 -- MAVEN: Mars Atmospheric Loss Processes

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Mars
SVS >> Music
SVS >> Satellite
SVS >> Solar Wind
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Ultraviolet
SVS >> SDO
SVS >> Edited Feature
SVS >> Heliophysics
SVS >> MAVEN
DLESE >> Narrated
SVS >> Corona
NASA Science >> Sun
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0