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The Martian atmosphere is particularly prone to impact erosion owing to the low escape velocity of Mars. An early computer model suggested that Mars could have lost 99% of its initial atmosphere by the end of late heavy bombardment period based on a hypothetical bombardment flux estimated from lunar crater density. [42]
Some researchers have suggested that the atmosphere of Mars may have been many times as thick as the Earth's; however research published in September 2015 advanced the idea that perhaps the early Martian atmosphere was not as thick as previously thought. [41] Currently, the atmosphere is very thin.
However, early in its history Mars may have had conditions more conducive to retaining liquid water at the surface. Mars without a dust storm in June 2001 (on left) and with a global dust storm in July 2001 (on right), as seen by Mars Global Surveyor. Early Mars had a carbon dioxide atmosphere similar in thickness to present-day Earth (1000 hPa ...
Mars in true color, taken by the Emirates Mars Mission on 30 August 2021, when Mars was in northern solstice The Mars carbonate catastrophe was an event that happened on Mars in its early history. Evidence shows Mars was once warmer and wet about 4 billion years ago, that is about 560 million years after the formation of Mars .
Unlike Earth, Mars does not have a global magnetic field to protect its atmosphere, leaving it vulnerable to solar ultraviolet radiation.
Although there is abundant geologic evidence for surface water early in Mars history, the nature and timing of the climate conditions under which that water occurred is a subject of vigorous scientific debate. [15] Today Mars is a cold, hyperarid desert with an average atmospheric pressure less than 1% that of Earth.
Yellow clouds on Mars have been observed since the 1870s, which Eugène M. Antoniadi suggested were windblown sand or dust. During the 1920s, the range of Martian surface temperature was measured; it ranged from −85 to 7 °C (−121 to 45 °F). The planetary atmosphere was found to be arid with only trace amounts of oxygen and water.
There are numerous challenges to human settlements on Mars: lack of breathable oxygen, harmful ultraviolet radiation due to its thin atmosphere, salty soil hostile to growing crops, dust storms ...