Why Did Mars Lose Its Atmosphere? NASA Robotic Mission to Seek Answer

NASA has been making a lot of headlines with recent discoveries on Mars, and fans of the red planet are in for good news: they're going again, bigger and better than ever.  There's the Mars Surface Laboratory, the ExoMars rover, and flying above them all will be MAVEN< which will make definitive scientific measurements of present-day atmospheric loss that will offer clues about the planet's history
 
"The loss of Mars' atmosphere has been an ongoing mystery," Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said.

Mars has been balding like a middle-aged banker for some time now, a presumably thick and lustrous atmosphere which allowed surface water having been lost some time ago. Just why this should have happened, and what the current rate of loss is, are questions the MAVEN will hope to find answers to.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission will examine the evolution of Mars' atmosphere, as well as underlining their dedication to acronyms even when they require almost random capitalization and a dictionary.  A 'maven' is an expert, by the way, and in late 2014 this orbiter will know more about Mars' atmosphere than anything ever has.

It should, because it'll be flying through it.  The MAVEN will be orbiting low enough to scoop out samples of the air not only to find out what's there, but also what isn't.

One theory is that Mars lost its magnetic field, without which it was defenseless against the brutal onslaught of solar radiation which stripped anything not nailed down (like air) off the planet.  You may remember this from an explanation in 'The Core', but we at the Galaxy must recommend against thinking about "The Core" and real science at the same time in the strongest possible terms.  It's like mixing matter and antimatter: not something you want to do inside your skull

After arriving at Mars in the fall of 2014, MAVEN will use its propulsion system to enter an elliptical orbit ranging 90 to 3,870 miles above the planet. The spacecraft's eight science instruments will take measurements during a full Earth year, which is roughly equivalent to half of a Martian year. MAVEN also will dip to an altitude 80 miles above the planet to sample Mars' entire upper atmosphere.

During and after its primary science mission, the spacecraft may be used to provide communications relay support for robotic missions on the Martian surface. See, cooler people get to play with lots more money.

Luke McKinney.

MAVEN

Related Galaxy posts:

Unraveling the Mysteries of -Clues to Climate Change on Earth?
Movie of NASA's Sites on for Future Landings & Search for Ancient Life
Exploration: Secrets of the Soil
Is There Life on Mars? NASA Goes Underground to Find Out
New Phoenix Mission Technology to Search for Life
Is there an Interplanetary Mars-Earth Microbe Shuttle?
"The Overview Effect": Is Space Travel Next Step in Human Evolution?
Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos Revisited -NASA's Phoenix Probe & the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Phoenix Lander and the 'Canals' of Mars

Comments

[claudio]

Yes agreed : the remnant-debris of magnetic field of Mars does NOT allow the planet to have anymore a decent atmosphere.
I noted that You at 'Galaxy' mention "The core" a nice Fiction moovie and the related science.

Unfortunately there is NO science and technology possible to allow to penetrate a rocky planet up to its core.

PLS remember that even for the current oil and gas fields researches and exploytation we cannot reach more that 4-6 Km down our crust and takes 'ages' for special digging pipes to penetrate the earth crust.

I am very sorry but fiction moovies are something and true science and TECHNOLOGY are something else.

Regards anyway to the brave Galaxy people.