MadSci Network: Astronomy |
Hi Michael, First of all, I'm not sure from where you got your information. I was unable to find any NASA press release on this topic, but I will try to answer your questions as completely as I can... It's been known for quite awhile that Mars lost its atmosphere as a result of its weak gravitational field...it just wasn't strong enough to hold onto the elements that make up an atmosphere and so they slowly drifted off into space (see Hartmann's Moons and Planets, 4th edition). It's very unlikely that the solar wind would strip a planet of its atmosphere, with or without a magnetic field, and it's unknown whether Mars lost most of its atmosphere before or after it lost its magnetosphere. Currently, Mars has a small atmostphere but it has no magnetosphere. (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/sci/sig-achieve-fp.html) Global terraforming of Mars by humans would be impossible unless there was some technology (so far undeveloped) that could constantly regenerate elements needed for life. In the future, as in the past, Mars' weak gravitational field would allow elements to slowly escape into space. Current thoughts are that domes need to be erected in order to contain a generated atmosphere that would allow humans to survive.
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