Nasa's Maven mission to study Mars' lost atmosphere We know Mars as a dusty seemingly dead planet.

But there is growing evidence that it was not always so. Most planetary scientists believe the Red Planet was once not unlike the Earth. here is evidence that it was once habitable ! a world that had a thick atmosphere and water that "lowed across its sur"ace. But around "our billion years ago# it is thought that Mars lost its magnetic "ield ! possibly due to a massive asteroid impact. he "ield acted as a protective shield against the $un's corrosive solar wind and without it# the Martian atmosphere was gradually ripped away. $o the theory goes.

scape rate is very important in terms o" seeing the history o" Mars going back to a time when it probably had an atmosphere could have been habitable% &n Earth# our magnetic "ield de"lects the solar wind and helps contain our atmosphere. Nasa's Maven spacecra"t will orbit the Red Planet to seek "urther evidence to support this theory. 'n particular it will look at the rate at which Mars's now thin atmosphere is continuing to leak away into space. &nce the rate o" escape is calculated# it will enable scientists to e(trapolate backwards in time and recreate what the Martian atmosphere was once like. )ccording to Pro" )ndrew *oates# "rom the Mullard $pace $cience +aboratory at ,niversity *ollege +ondon# Maven is essentially a time machine. - ying down this escape rate is very important in terms o" seeing the history o" Mars going back to a time when it probably had an atmosphere could have been habitable#- he told me. he mission sounds simple ! but it is not. 'n order to reconstruct Mars' ancient atmosphere# scientists need to calculate its likely -We know roughly "rom previous missions about the amount o" material escaping ! but they vary wildly#- said Pro" *oates. - hey can di""er by a "actor o" ./ or .//# depending on which sets o" data "rom which missions you compare. 0aving all the instruments together on Maven means we will be able to measure it with greater accuracy.-

Mars has localised magnetic "ields that are thought to be the remnants o" the planet's global "ield. )s a result# the planet has "aint auroras when cosmic rays batter the planet. Evidence "or their presence was "irst detected by the European $pace )gency's Mars E(press mission in 1//2 . 't is hoped that Maven may be able to take the "irst images o" the auroras. pressure and composition. hey plan to do this by measuring how various components# including carbon dio(ide# water and nitrogen# are currently escaping. )tmospheric escape also varies over time# depending on the natural activity o" the $un. Earlier missions have taken measurements and the current estimate is that about ./ tonnes o" gas is being lost per day. But the uncertainties are large. Maven is uni3ue in that it has been designed to answer this speci"ic 3uestion# and so has all the instruments it needs to get the most precise measurements ever obtained o" atmospheric escape.