NASA video imagines young Mars with lakes and clouds

Will Conley - Nov 13, 2013
NASA video imagines young Mars with lakes and clouds


The video shows Mars as it was in the early days when it could support the existence of standing water. Scientists hold that the planet used to have an atmosphere capable of pressurizing water to keep it glued to the surface instead of evaporating. The clouds in the video look exactly like clouds on Earth, and the mountainous terrain reminds us of, say, the southwestern United States.

The space probe shown at the end of the video–making a grand entrance Gene Roddenberry would be proud of–is the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution probe, or “MAVEN.” MAVEN is part of a NASA project to investigate the evolution of Mars’ climate. These days it’s a bit more on the desert side than the wet and warm side, as Mars experts believe it was.

The MAVEN probe will be launched this month and arrive in orbit around Mars by September of next year. (Less than one year is a quick journey, galactically speaking.) Maybe we’ll get some more answers as to why exactly Mars lost its Earth-like qualities. Until then, let the “We’re Martians!” theories roll.

Image converted using ifftoany


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