Ancient Mars Had Thicker Atmosphere, Curiosity Finds | Video

The roving Mars Science Lab's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument tested for levels of the gas Argon in the atmosphere. Those levels indicate the Red Planet once had a more robust atmosphere, confirming what scientists previously thought.

[VideoFromSpace]

It's been there for millennia. But it doesn't know or care what we call it or how we classify it. And we now classify it a dwarf planet.

[ChesoXD]

It is simply suggesting that there was a thicker atmosphere a very long time ago which adds to the evidence that mars was once a warm wet planet where life could have thrived such as earth.

[aMattes]

molten core hardened (no more vulcanism) which means no more internal dynamo whichs produces the magnetic field. no more magnetic field means the atmosphere is unprotected to solar winds. solar winds slowly blew the atmospere away. lower air pressure lets the water boil faster. some day all the water has boiled into the atmosphere which still got blown away. it is just cold enough at the poles all year so ice is still existing.

[LexoG]

Pluto is not a planet, it's a dwarf planet. The four inner plannets are the rocky planets, and the four outer planets are the gas giants. If we considered Pluto a planet, we'd have to include all the other icy dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt, some of which are bigger than Pluto. And none of them fit the description of 'planet' because they all orbit the sun close together and haven't accumulated into a single large body.

[ChesoXD]

There were a lot of facts backing the claim up in this single video....

[ChesoXD]

Good question the temperature dropped to freezing because of a lack of atmosphere to keep it warm. Certain gasses in our atmosphere trap heat released by the sun we know this as the greenhouse effect and on mars because of the lack of atmosphere it cannot trap heat energy and yes at one point it had a atmosphere which allowed for flowing water and it possibly sustained life. I recommend you watch the documentary "living on mars".

[ChesoXD]

Yes I am very familiar with the habitable zones around a star dubbed the goldilocks zone and yes of course there is other alien life out there and there is probably very intelligent life if there is it is likely to be thousands even millions of years ahead of us which is a scary thought.

[treejoe]

no, it is not obvious unless evidence is seen of previous life. we have little idea about how common life is, why it forms, how often etc. life could be one in a billion planets for all we know

[RDBeerman]

The question is, How much thicker? would it be comparable to our atmosphere?

[ChesoXD]

"Babies are not very vulnerable" Babies 'are' very vulnerable I derped that sentence... opps

[seeriktus]

More like billions but it's probably only been in its present state for millions

[nephildevil]

the larger amounts of heavier argon can only have come through long periods of accumulation of a denser atmosphere i suppose, or is there more to it?

[ChesoXD]

Yes thats true but they develop the abilities to thrive from ancient organisms which may only be able to survive in certain circumstances, what I mean is that for our current life to exist we needed the perfect conditions at the very start in a way you can think of this as if it was a baby. Babies are not very vulnerable when they are born but after they begin to grow and get older they develop and become more resistant to nature do you understand now? this is not meant to seem insulting btw :D

[treejoe]

we are not mature enough as a species to know them

[gonzo]

I wonder what they theorize to mars drying up if they believe it had lakes,

[ChesoXD]

It did not really dry up it froze the size of mars is to little to sustain a atmosphere for large periods of time unlike the earth the core of mars cooled very fast and the atmosphere bleed off from a lack of gravity which removed the effect of greenhouse gas heating.

[treejoe]

you cant say live has been on mars if there is no evidence for it, you are probably right, but humans still have no idea about how life evolves around the universe.

[gonzo]

So if it froze up what does man in regards to the sun would that mean at one point they had the ideal temp to substain flowing lakes and if it froze lets say temps of the sun could rise back up to this ideal temp that allowed lakes to flow could it un freeze and would and atmosphere return or is this planet dead wasteland

[ChesoXD]

I do not agree with him but dude you derped he was obviously not trying to spell more he was spelling mere as in just e.g. "these are just theories" "These are mere theories"

[buck]

Mere theories and no facts to back up this claim