NASA recently released a video showing Mars' Evolution and how the planet was very similar to Earth four billion years ago. In the video, it showed that the Red planet once had vast bodies of water, clear blue skies and fluffy clouds.
The Mars that we know now is so much different: it is dry, cold, burnt and uninhabitable. This evolution of Mars from a beautiful, livable planet to an unwelcoming empty desert can be viewed now from a video created by the Conceptual Image Lab of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Evidences in the form of ancient craters and river waterways imply that the Red Planet had vast bodies of water on its surface. Furthermore, previous discoveries of Martian rovers and orbiters proved that Mars once had an atmosphere that allowed air to circulate around the planet and enclose water inside it which in turn prohibited evaporation of water draining into space.
So far, scientists are still doing further investigations on Mars' atmosphere and seeking answers on questions of how, approximately 3.7 billions of years ago, the Red Planet lost the thick atmosphere that protected the splendor of the planet.
Joseph Grebowsky, project scientist of Goodard Space Flight Center, presented the most probable explanation which blames the destruction of the planet to a major loss of planetary magnetic field which serves as a protective layer from solar winds. Without a shield to protect the atmosphere from charged elements propelled by the sun, this allowed each stratum of Martian air to be drained into outer space.
Because of this crucial event, the Mars was unable to hold water in its liquid form since it will either boil or freeze in the extremely low temperatures and thin atmosphere. Water is only present in the form of vapor or ice. Now thick, scattered specks of dust which are composed of red iron oxides is responsible for the reddish shade that Mars achieves today.
NASA’s simulation of the Martian’s environmental transition over billions of years is timely as the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) is set to reach Mars by September next year. Its mission is to explore the planet and find out how its atmosphere was lost resulting to the devastating change in its environment.
Watch the video of "Mars Evolution" below.
