Rare discovery on Mars could finally reveal why the planet died

02-Jun-2025

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Mars always had water, but then the planet changed and the water disappeared leaving behind a barren dead world.

In what could be one of the biggest findings from Mars, Nasa's Mars Atmosphere Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has detected an elusive atmospheric escape process called sputtering.

Sputtering, a phenomenon where energetic particles from the solar wind crash into Mars’ upper atmosphere and knock atoms into space, may have played a central role.

The result: a high-resolution map showing argon being ejected from Mars’ atmosphere precisely where solar particles collided with it. This sputtering occurred at a rate four times higher than previously thought, and intensified during solar storms.