According to NASA, solar flares disrupted the Martian climate – The World

Solar flares have caused the disappearance of much of the Martian atmosphere in the youth of Mars, causing a disruption of the climate so conducive to life, according to the first scientific results Maven, an orbital probe of NASA. These are the findings of the four studies based on data collected by the instruments of the orbiter, published Thursday, November 5 in the journal Science.

“The erosion of winds Solar is an important mechanism of loss from the atmosphere and was large enough to cause a Martian climate disruption “, said in a telephone press conference Joe Grebowsky, chief scientist at Goddard Maven flights NASA space.

Measurements of the high Martian atmosphere show in particular an exhaust rate in the space of flows of ionized particles accelerated significantly (ten times faster than normal) in a solar flare last spring. This gives a good indication of the mechanism by which Mars may have lost much of its atmosphere to become the largest arid desert today, said Bruce Jakosky, University of Colorado at Boulder, one of the authors this work.

Given the likelihood that these eruptions were to occur more frequently in the childhood of the solar system, these researchers suggest that the exhaust particles forming rate the atmosphere of Mars were largely related This activity in the sun

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“A thick atmosphere warm enough”

Maven instruments ( “Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution” ) provide visualization Martian magnetic field bombarded with ionized material for this powerful jets erupting from the sun in the month of March.

“Mars seems to have had a thick atmosphere and warm enough that water can will sink and which is an essential ingredient to the existence of life as we know it “, noted John Grunsfeld, responsible for scientific missions NASA, saying that ” understand what s’ happened with the Martian atmosphere will shed light on the dynamics and evolution of the entire planet atmosphere “.

Another study published Thursday in Science shows a greater density of atmospheric oxygen as estimated earlier.

Maven has eight instruments, including a mass spectrometer to determine the molecular structures of atmospheric gases, and SWEA sensor (Solar Wind Electron Analyzer), developed by French Institute for Astrophysics Research, which analyzes the solar wind. Launched November 18, 2013 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the probe of 2.45 tons was inserted into the Martian orbit in September 2014.