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Study Published In Nature Proposes That Periods Of Liquid Water On Mars Were Rare And That The Planet Self-Regulates Like A Desert.
Mars once had rivers and lakes. This statement, which previously seemed unlikely, is now scientific certainty.
The canyons carved by watercourses on its surface reveal a wet past. But if this is true, why is the planet today an arid and frozen desert?
A new study provides a surprising answer: perhaps Mars has always been doomed.
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An Answer To The Greatest Mystery Of Mars
The research was conducted by Edwin Kite, a planetary scientist at the University Of Chicago and a member of the Curiosity mission.
Published in the journal Nature, the study suggests that the periods when there was liquid water on Mars were only brief exceptions.
According to the authors, the planet tends to return to a desert state on its own, in a self-regulating process unlike that of Earth.
The basis for this hypothesis comes from recent data from the Curiosity mission from NASA. In April, the rover discovered, for the first time, rocks rich in carbonate.
This type of material can explain where the ancient Martian atmosphere, primarily composed of carbon dioxide, went.
“For years, we’ve had this enormous unanswered question about why Earth managed to maintain its habitability while Mars lost it,” Kite stated. “Our models suggest that periods of habitability on Mars were the exception, not the rule.”
Mars Preserves The Marks Of Its Own Catastrophe
The difference between the two planets lies not only in their position relative to the Sun or in their composition.
According to Kite, Mars had all the ingredients to be a habitable world: rocks, carbon, water, and the right distance from the Sun. Even so, it became a frozen desert.
What went wrong? The clue is on the surface of the red planet.
The valleys and dry riverbeds show that at some point, Mars had flowing water. And the rocks hold clues about what happened afterward.
“Fortunately, Mars preserves a trace of that environmental catastrophe in the rocks on its surface,” Kite said. He highlights that we are living in a “golden age” of planetary science, with robots on the surface and satellites in orbit dedicated to understanding the planet.
Earth Has A Balance System. Mars Does Not
On Earth, carbon dioxide acts as a climate regulator. When the temperature rises, chemical reactions fix it in the rocks, cooling the planet.
Over time, carbon returns to the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions. This cycle keeps the planet relatively stable.
On Mars, the study suggests that something similar may occur — but in a limited manner. As the Sun becomes brighter, a slight warming occurs.
This creates liquid water for a short period. This water, in turn, removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, fixing it in the rocks.
With less greenhouse gas, the planet cools down again and the water disappears.
On Earth, volcanoes replenish carbon into the atmosphere. On Mars, they do not. “Unlike Earth, where there are always some volcanoes erupting, Mars is currently volcanically dormant,” Kite explained.
This imbalance creates a cycle that breaks by itself. Just a little water is enough to trap carbon dioxide in the rocks. And without carbon in the atmosphere, Mars freezes again.
Short Water Cycles Followed By 100 Million Year Deserts
The study led by Kite created computational models to simulate these oscillations. The results point to a planet that experiences short periods of liquid water, followed by arid intervals of up to 100 million years.
These long intervals make the continuous presence of life practically impossible. According to scientists, even if suitable conditions existed for a time, they did not last long enough for complex life forms to develop or survive.
Carbonates Were The Missing Piece
The key to this new hypothesis was the discovery of rocks with carbonate by the Curiosity rover. This substance shows where the carbon dioxide that once warmed the planet went.
Since the lack of a thick atmosphere on Mars was detected, scientists have wondered where that carbon went.
The simplest answer would be: into the rocks, like on Earth. But for years, no concrete evidence had been found.
Curiosity had to climb Mount Sharp to finally locate these rocks. The discovery represents an important advance and could be expanded with new tests.
“It’s something you really can’t know until you have a rover on the surface,” said Benjamin Tutolo, co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Calgary. “The chemical and mineralogical measurements they provide are really essential in our ongoing search to understand how and why planets remain habitable.”
New Clues May Emerge
The authors hope that as Curiosity progresses in its collections, it will be possible to confirm whether carbonate is widespread or if it’s a localized phenomenon. This information will be decisive to validate or adjust the presented model.
In addition to Kite and Tutolo, the study involved researcher Madison L. Turner from the University of Chicago, as well as scientists from NASA, Brown University, Caltech, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The work contributes to answering one of the oldest questions in modern astronomy: what happened to Mars? If the hypotheses are correct, the answer may be: nothing much. The planet simply followed the path that was laid out from the beginning.
Curiosity remains active on Martian soil, and new analyses of Mount Sharp may confirm if carbonate deposits are common on the planet.
This could reinforce the idea that Mars has always had a natural tendency to lose its habitability, even when it had all the ingredients to be a world like ours.
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