NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN), has learned that the Earth's nearest neighbor, the planet Mars, has kind of a punk rock streak to it.
Researchers say that the planet's upper atmosphere is covered in space radiation that turns its atoms into electrically charged ions. These ions strip away into the sky due to the magnetic forces from solar winds, which could explains its thinning atmosphere. It also explains why Mars appear as if it is sporting a "Mohawk hairstyle."
"MAVEN is observing a polar plume of escaping atmospheric particles," Bruce Jakosky from NASA said in a news release. "The amount of material escaping by this route could make it a major player in the loss of gas to space."
"When tracing particle trajectories in the models, the plume looks a bit like a Mohawk," another scientist, David Brain, said in the report.
In November 2013, NASA launched the MAVEN mission specifically for the purpose of investigating the Red Planet. These latest findings will help scientists determine if Mars was indeed a livable environment in the past. This will also help NASA determine if it has a potential as a habitat for the future.
The findings, which are still in preliminary stages, were revealed at the Space Sciences Laboratory in California this week.
The MAVEN mission is scheduled to end this November, but according to NASA, it will be extended until September 2016.
