Scientists Finally discovered The Reason of How Mars lost its Water
Scientists finally discovered that how Mars lost water from its surface and the water which is equivalent to a global ocean of water up to hundreds of feet (or up to hundreds of meters) deep over billions of years.
Scientists used NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, spacecraft to conduct this discovery and they found that water vapor near the surface of the Red Planet is lofted higher into the atmosphere than anyone expected was possible. The water vapor is easily destroyed by electrically charged gas particles or ions and then lost to space.
According to the scientists, Mars continues to lose water today as vapor is transported to high altitudes after sublimating from the frozen polar caps during warmer seasons and they were all surprised to find water so high in the atmosphere.
Scientists collected useful data from MAVEN’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS), which was developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The mass spectrometer inhales air and separates the ions that comprise it by their mass, which is how scientists identify them.
From those data, scientists found water vapor near the atmosphere which is 93 miles, or 150 kilometers, above the surface is highest during the summer in the southern hemisphere because that time Mars is closest to the sun and dust storms are more likely to happen. This warm summer temperature and storms help water vapor to reach the top of the atmosphere and there it can easily be broken into its constituent oxygen and hydrogen. Then hydrogen and oxygen escape to space.
NASA scientists said, Everything that makes it up to the higher part of the atmosphere is destroyed, on Mars or on Earth because this is the part of the atmosphere that is exposed to the full force of the Sun. We have shown that dust storms interrupt the water cycle on Mars and push water molecules higher in the atmosphere, where chemical reactions can release their hydrogen atoms, which are then lost to space.
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