NASA’s closer to knowing why Mars’ surface is cold and dead
It looks like NASA’s figured out one of the reasons why Mars isn’t fit for human — or any other kind — of life. The space agency held another press conference to discuss why Mars has turned from what was thought to be a wet, lush planet (that might have contained surface life) into a cold, desolate place. The likely culprit? Solar winds. With a little help from the MAVEN probe (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), researchers were able to figure out how much of the planet’s atmosphere is being stripped away by solar winds — around 1/4 pound of gas every second. Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s principal investigator at the University of Colorado, likened the atmospheric loss to taking a small amount of coins out of a cash register every day — at first it’s insignificant, but over time can have a big impact.
Source: NASA
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