Mars used to be a water - copious world before becoming the dry , stale desert that it is today . However , information from Curiosity previously revealed that the satellite had flow water for a lot longer than researchers expected . Now , a new theory suggests how that could have happened .
concord to a study published inNature Geoscience , explosive volley of methane could have kept the Red Planet warm enough to admit limpid water on its surface . The outside squad of researchers developed a simulation to show that underground methane emissions could have extend Mars ' capabilities to keep liquid water on its surface .
Being further away from the Sun , Mars has always been cooler than Earth . But for its first billion years of existence , it had a thick atmosphere that kept things static . The constant erosion of the atmosphere by the solar idle words lead to the world we see today . This process should have been enough to make the planet waterless 3.6 billion years ago , but data from NASA ’s Curiosity show that water persisted until about 3 billion years ago .
This epoch , called the Hesperian point , is a bit of a mystifier . Previous theory like intense volcanism and meteoroid impact could produce climate warming episodes , but scientists were uncertain if they would be enough for such a long - lasting result .
In Gale Crater , Curiosity has foundevidenceof flowing deltas and static lake throughout the Hesperian . It was maybe covered in ice , but it was a lake nonetheless . These findings motivated investigator to find a mechanics to keep Mars meek .
A key point in this study has to do with Mars ’ wildly changing axis . Unlike Earth ’s axis , Mars ’ tilt can vary dramatically , even by 10 or 20 degrees . This can expose frozen region of the planet antecedently at high parallel of latitude to a warm climate . The researchers call up this could have allowed the airfoil ice to thaw and methane from the underlie rocks to erupt .
Methane is a terrifyingly efficient glasshouse accelerator pedal , 25 clock time more powerful than carbon dioxide . It would take a very retentive clip for methane to be breach down by sunlight . A methane - led warming of the Red Planet could have lasted for century of M of eld .
It ’s still unclear what mechanics keep Mars warm during the Hesperian , and perhaps it was n’t a single result but a combining of galactic and geological consequence . The methane - burst hypothesis is an challenging increase to the several ideas we presently have about other Mars .
