Water leaves the atmosphere of Mars faster than scientists thought

In recent years, astronomers have discovered a lot of evidence that in ancient times there existed on Mars

rivers, and therefore water in liquid form. Scientists believe that they contained approximately the same amount of water as the Arctic Ocean now holds.

Scientists still don’t know exactly how this water disappeared - for example, there are hypotheses that it disappeared during strong dust storms.

Having analyzed the data of the Russian ACS device,installed on board the ExoMars-TGO apparatus, scientists came to the conclusion that water enters the upper atmosphere of Mars, where molecules can interact with cosmic rays and ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, decay, accelerate and escape into space. In this case, the process is much faster than scientists have so far believed.

Our observations show that significantpart of the Martian atmosphere is in a state of supersaturation with water vapor. This allows it to rise through clouds and dust, which speeds up the "escape" of water into space. Steam is present in the atmosphere along with dust particles and particles of ice, which indicates that condensation cannot cope with its excess. This may be due to sharp drops in temperature or a sharp increase in the concentration of water in the atmosphere.

Oleg Korablev, lead author of the study

Previously, astrophysicists from the Jet LaboratoryNASA's movements have discovered huge dust towers on Mars - dense columns of dust that arise during global dust storms and reach 80 km in height. Scientists believe that such phenomena in the past could turn Mars into a desert, destroying all forms of life on the planet.