Many have asked the question why doesn't Mars have oceans? A recent breakthrough discovery has confirmed that liquid water does exist on Mars. This means there is the potential for life to exist here. However, this water is very minimal compared to previous levels of water found on Mars. A study done by Geronimo Villanueva and Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center reveals that Mars used to have at minimum seven times as much water as it does today with there being enough water to cover almost 20% of mars’ surface. We know this because the isotope of hydrogen deuterium is heavily present on Mars. Knowing this allows us to hypothesize how much water was once on Mars billions of years ago. Hydrogen is lighter then its isotope deuterium so it escapes the atmosphere faster leaving behind large amounts of deuterium which seems to indicate that there was at one time a large amount of liquid water on the planet.
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It is clear that water on Mars, such as oceans and rivers, were prominent features of Mars billions of years ago. The big question is where did all of this water go. Mars is much smaller then earth and therefore has a thinner atmosphere and less gravity. As water evaporated from these prehistoric oceans and rivers on Mars, much of it escaped in to space, meaning that less and less of it fell back on Mars’ surface thus reducing the amount of
It is clear that water on Mars, such as oceans and rivers, were prominent features of Mars billions of years ago. The big question is where did all of this water go. Mars is much smaller then earth and therefore has a thinner atmosphere and less gravity. As water evaporated from these prehistoric oceans and rivers on Mars, much of it escaped in to space, meaning that less and less of it fell back on Mars’ surface thus reducing the amount of