Is Mars a Doomed Earth?

Jakarta –

If not the twin planets in the Solar System, then it must be Earth and Mars is ‘brother-sister’. However, in their development, the two became completely different. Earth became a habitable blue planet, while Mars became very arid.

Currently, Mars, which has been dubbed the Red Planet, looks more like a dead planet. The surface is dry and cold, well below freezing, with no moisture content.

Yet about four billion years ago, Earth and Mars fairly young and wet. How did Mars lose the water that had flowed on its surface billions of years ago? Mars is like a doomed planet, becoming dry, cold and red.

A group of scientists now claims to have the answer: a lot of standing water was then trapped in parts of the crust on the surface of Mars. This water is in the form of minerals contained in the planet’s rocks. These findings have been discussed at the 52nd Moon and Planet Science Conference and have been published in the scientific journal Science

This research uses observational methods including material collected from rover robots, spacecraft orbiting Mars, and meteorites. The researchers then developed computer simulations to find out how this water from the surface of Mars disappears over time.

Mars four billion years ago, it was a warm, wet planet, which was made possible by its thick atmosphere. The water flows through rivers, divides channels in the rocks, and empties into craters formed by meteorite impacts.

The Red Planet also holds enough water to cover its entire surface, in layers measuring between 100 meters and 1 kilometer. About a billion years later, Mars turned into the cooler and desolate planet we know it today.

“We’ve known for a long time, that Mars it was wetter in its early history. But, the bad luck of the water that surrounds it is a continuing problem, “said planetary expert and scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, England, Dr Peter Grindrod, as quoted from BBC, Saturday (20/3/2021).

“We already know from a number of studies of the Martian atmosphere that some of that water is escaping into space, and the remaining ice deposits and below the surface show us that water also freezes,” he added.

Release into space

Earth has a protective magnet or magnetosphere that helps prevent the atmosphere from escaping. Unfortunately a protective magnet Mars weak, so that it can cause the water element component to disappear from the planet.

The results of the computer modeling process show between 30% to 99% of the initial water on Mars, enters the minerals and is buried in the crustal layer of the planet.

Next up: Climate change on Mars …

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