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| Subject: New Water-Cycle Explains Why Mars Is A Barren Planet Sun May 12, 2019 12:51 am | |
| The study of a new water-cycle in the Martian summertime offers clues as to why Mars is a dusty barren land. Once upon a time, billions of years ago, Mars was a waterlogged world, rich in rivers and oceans. But all of that water was lost and even today, the planet leaks hydrogen out into space. Mars is estimated to have lost at least 80% of its original water, as ultraviolet radiation from the Sun split water molecules in the upper atmosphere into hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals and the hydrogen gas irrevocably escaped. But the mystery lies in how the water made it all the way there in the first place. Like Earth’s tropopause, Mars has a middle atmospheric layer that should restrain rising gas, causing it to turn to ice and fall back to the planet surface.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2019/05/10/new-water-cycle-explains-why-mars-is-a-barren-planet/#668c5f6368e9 |
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