NATS 1740 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Water On Mars, Solar Wind, Maven

• School: York University
• Department: Natural Science
• Course: NATS 1740
• Professor: Michael De Robertis, Alireza Rafiee

Document Summary

1st billion years, there were water on mars, but now it dried. Because mars" magnetic field (a shield prevents harmful stuff from the sun, which allows the atmosphere) has declined due to greenhouse effect. Now, mars" magnetic field is not able to protect the surface from solar wind. Mars can"t have permanent magnetic field, over billion years it declined => the solar wind has stripped the atmosphere. Climate change on mars: the maven spacecraft can see what"s happening on mars and measures its loss of atmosphere. Dry riverbeds, eroded craters and rock-strewn floodplains tell us water was flowed on. But now it has ice, underground water ice and perhaps underground liquid water. Mars change because of the thicker greenhouse effects, it lost most of the atmosphere perhaps because of the declining magnetic field. Yes, but we can"t see by our eyes. Scientists put satellite in its orbit (radar) to observe venus. Evidence of craters but less than moon, mercury, mars.