A TALE OF PLANETARY WOE

ABOVE :
Drawing of 'possible' causes of Mars cataclism.
Among them, the loss of martian atmosphere could be
caused by solar winds and a complex set of
space/astral mechanisms working simultaneously.





SCIENCE NEWS, NOVEMBER 6, 2009
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David Brain of UC Berkeley has proposed another, seemingly contrary possibility.

He suggests these small magnetic fields might actually hasten the loss of Mars's atmosphere.

The solar wind might buffet those magnetic field lines, occasionally pinching off a "bubble" of field lines that then drifts off into space — carrying a large chunk of the atmosphere with it.

If so, having a partial magnetic field might be worse than having none at all.

This possibility was described in a 2008 Science@NASA story:
"Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere."

Some evidence from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft supports Brain's theory, but decisive measurements will have to wait for MAVEN, currently scheduled to launch in 2013.

The mission will be a big step toward understanding what happened to Mars — how it ended up so cold and dry after such a warm and watery beginning.

After all these years, MAVEN could write the final chapter in a haunting tale of planetary woe.










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