NASA's discovery on Mars that changed everything!

While Earth has hosted life for over 3.5 billion years, Mars has been quietly dying. NASA’s Curiosity rover has taken a major step toward solving this cosmic mystery, and the answer lies in a deadly imbalance. Why did Mars become uninhabitable? The answer to this question was published in the journal Nature by a study led by Edwin Kite from the University of Chicago.

Curiosity discovered rocks rich in carbonates, minerals that bind carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, suggesting that Mars once had a carbon cycle similar to Earth's. But Mars' cycle was very different from Earth's.

While volcanic eruptions on Earth release carbon dioxide from rocks back into the atmosphere, volcanic activity is almost nonexistent on Mars, causing the planet to cool its atmosphere and eventually become uninhabitable.

CONDEMNED TO A LONG PERIOD OF DESERTIFICATION

Traces of water worlds can be found on the surface of Mars, such as dried-up riverbeds and ancient lakebeds. But Mars could not sustain the life-friendly conditions of this water. Researchers from the University of Chicago have developed a model that explains how the increasing intensity of the sun led to the formation of liquid water. The solar intensity increased by eight percent over about a billion years, allowing liquid water to exist for a short time. But this water combined with carbon dioxide to form carbonates, thinning the atmosphere and cooling the planet.

Mars was doomed to long periods of desertification due to insufficient volcanic activity. Although liquid water existed during this period, each water phase ended with a desert climate of about 100 million years. Such long droughts prevented Mars from supporting life.

CURIOSITY ALSO SOLVES ANOTHER IMPORTANT MYSTERY

Studies have shown that this gas is trapped in rocks. Because there is no volcanic activity, this gas has not been released, causing Mars' atmosphere to thin over time. Previous missions have only found small amounts of carbonate on the Martian surface, surprising scientists.

These findings could become clearer with samples taken from Mars in the 2030s. They also have important implications for the search for habitable exoplanets. Planets with low volcanic activity could lose their habitability in a similar way to Mars.

The years-long mystery of life on Mars has finally been solved, and the discovery provides new insight not only into the history of Mars, but also into the habitability of all planets.