Do you think the loss of water on Mars was gradual or catastrophic?
Did a massive meteorite cause the destruction of the atmosphere?
Did Venus pass close to Mars and disrupt the electromagnetic field causing the atmosphere to evaporate?
Did a near collision with Earth cause Mars EM field to distort causing the atmosphere to evaporate?
What other theories could explain Mars lifeless planet?
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M$2 Answers
New theories supported on evidence collected in recent years, suggest that Although dusty and dry today, Mars was once a world full of water. Scientists speculated that the missing water scaped from the Martian atmosphere and was blown into space long ago by strong gusts of solar winds.
Since Mars does not have a protective magnetosphere like we have on Earth, the solar wind directly affects its atmosphere. Studies have shown great quantities of charged oxygen atoms in Mars atmosphere streaming into space. But the observed oxygen outflows were not high enough as to account for all of the water missing from the red planet.
However, according to the data collected by the Viking and Pathfinder landers troughout the years, a model has been created for a cycle of diurnal water on Mars; this model predicts the diurnal presence of up to a few several percent of water moisture in the top thin layer of the surface soil over extense regions of Mars.
Solar Flares
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M$Earth and Mars are over 30,000,000 miles apart, so the theory of a near collision is almost laughable.
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M$
I'm more interested in the catastrophic theories that lead up to Mars losing its atmosphere
Without a magnetosphere a severe fluctuation could account for the evaporation of the water and atmosphere. Have scientists modeled Mars with water and determined if a solar flare could destroy the ecosystem? Another theory may be a comet strike or a catastrophic event producing Mars debris found on Earth. Something catastrophic would be require to propel Mars rocks into space.
In "Worlds in Collision", a must read book of the 1950, Velikovsky said, The Comet collided with Mars in 747 BC and lost its tail and became transformed into Venus. The Venus orbit became near circular. Mars orbit was affected and in 687 BC it nearly collided with Earth. At certain epoch in the past the position of Mars and Venus were identical.
Large total ellipses were recorded in historical records of the Babylonians, Chinese, and Hebrews around the same time.
We have lost memory of cataclysmic events and it is possible other comets could impact the planets in the future. Considering that the Kuiper Belt has 100 million comets and the Oort has billions of comets and occasionally a long period comet will fall into a short period with the internal solar system, large cataclysmic events are probably in the future.