Water on Mars May Have Been Triggered by Meteorite Impacts By Charles Q. Choi
By Charles Q. Choi 3 hours ago
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter captured this topographical and infrared image of the
massive Huygens Crater in 2011.(Image: © NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University)
Cosmic impacts on young Mars may have triggered deluges, potentially explaining why the Red Planet was once covered in water, a new study finds.
Although Mars is now cold and dry, scientists have for decades found evidence suggesting that the planet's surface was once covered with rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, and perhaps even seas and oceans. Since there is life virtually everywhere on Earth where there is water, this history of water on the Red Planet raises the possibility that Mars was once home to life and might host it still.
However, despite the evidence for Red Planet water, scientists haven't been able to figure out how Mars could have possessed this water during its early days. During the Red Planet's youth, the sun was cooler than it is now, and previous climate models suggested that Mars may have lacked enough greenhouse gases to trap enough heat to generate significant amounts of rainfall.
New, not-yet-peer-reviewed research analyzes one potential answer to this mystery: that cosmic impacts heated Mars by generating enormous amounts of molten or vaporized rock and steam. That, the paper said, would help explain the signs of a warmer, wetter past Mars. To explore this possibility, scientists analyzed the environmental effects of cosmic impacts on computer models of the climate and geology of Mars.
More:
https://www.space.com/mars-water-from-massive-impacts.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Sorry I couldn't help it. Keep up the awesome posts.
