Mars lost its oceans, lakes, rivers because of its size

[FfFfFfFF 58,083]

Mars was doomed to desiccation by its small size, a new study suggests.

Thanks to observations by robotic explorers such as NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, scientists know that in the ancient past, liquid water coursed across the Martian surface: The Red Planet once hosted lakes, rivers and streams, and possibly even a huge ocean that covered much of its northern hemisphere. But that surface water was pretty much all gone by about 3.5 billion years ago, lost to space along with much of the Martian atmosphere.

"Mars' fate was decided from the beginning," study co-author Kun Wang, an assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a statement.

"There is likely a threshold on the size requirements of rocky planets to retain enough water to enable habitability and plate tectonics." That threshold is larger than Mars, the scientists believe.

The study team — led by Zhen Tian, a grad student in Wang's lab — examined 20 Mars meteorites, which they selected to be representative of the Red Planet's bulk composition.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/mars-too-small-ocean-rivers-lakes

[Rahrahbitchson 23,191]

Mars being one step ahead from Earth yup thats main pop planet behavior luv 

[Economy 52,842]

On this topic, they say when our planet warms up too much from the sun it will boil away water... anyone know how or why?

 

Water evaporates all the time but it doesnt disapear to space. Stays as humidity, clouds then falls back to Earth.

 

Warmer temperatures would increase that like a jungle but shouldnt our gravity still hold the water down to not go into space? I dont see why the amount matters.

 

Or would atmospheric pressure just increase a lot if a lot more water evaporated forcing some into space?

[PunkTheFunk 125,703]

39 minutes ago, Rahrahbitchson said:

Mars being one step ahead from Earth yup thats main pop planet behavior luv 

She didn't have the longevity though. Not enough talent and size to sustain a career except for some quick little hits.

[Economy 52,842]

Just now, PunkTheFunk said:

She didn't have the longevity though. Not enough talent and size to sustain a career except for some quick little hits.

Just like Venus

[chromaticabase 129]

5 minutes ago, Economy said:

On this topic, they say when our planet warms up too much from the sun it will boil away water... anyone know how or why?

 

Water evaporates all the time but it doesnt disapear to space. Stays are humidity, clouds then falls back to Earth.

 

Warmer temperatures would increase that like a jungle but shouldnt our gravity still hold the water down?

Maybe because in a milenia there won't be enough atmosphere for humidity to retain itself, therefore it could just boil away.. I don't know it's just a guess 

[GreenDiamond 6,286]

11 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

She didn't have the longevity though. Not enough talent and size to sustain a career except for some quick little hits.

male privilege...

[Guest]

That moment when you realize that people are seriously working on colonizing Mars when Earth is about to become just that in a hundred years. I think this is a perfect picture of how ridiculously delusional the top 1% percent have become. Mars is a "luxurious" substitute for Earth. 

[Economy 52,842]

36 minutes ago, GreenDiamond said:

male privilege...

So Earth is Male afterall?

 

So its Father Earth not Mother Earth. We been wrong all this time

 

[Economy 52,842]

28 minutes ago, venusinmyhead said:

That moment when you realize that people are seriously working on colonizing Mars when Earth is about to become just that in a hundred years. I think this is a perfect picture of how ridiculously delusional the top 1% percent have become. Mars is a "luxurious" substitute for Earth. 

I honestly dont get the big idea of another planet as a replacement for Earth if it becomes inhospitable

 

Earth already had the right gravity for our makeup, right length of days, atmospheric composition etc...

 

Yeah it may be damaged. But if u cant fix a planet that already has all the right basic parameters for our species in place, why do they think its gonna be easier to terraform a planet far away with different gravity, atmosphere, length of days, magnetic field (if any) etc

 

To me the idea has always been ludicrus

[WhereIsLG7 1,348]

Mars, now serve for the gods

[Economy 52,842]

54 minutes ago, chromaticabase said:

Maybe because in a milenia there won't be enough atmosphere for humidity to retain itself, therefore it could just boil away.. I don't know it's just a guess 

Something really catestrophic would have to happen for that to occur in just 1 milenia

 

I dont think even human made climate change would do that. Earth at its hottest point from the time life existed onward was something like 7C (12.6F) hotter than it is now (man made global warming so far is below 1.5C) and that wasnt enough to boil our water away or expand our atmosphere into space so im guessing it has to be even hotter than that

[sarahb 17,187]

1 hour ago, Economy said:

I honestly dont get the big idea of another planet as a replacement for Earth if it becomes inhospitable

 

Earth already had the right gravity for our makeup, right length of days, atmospheric composition etc...

 

Yeah it may be damaged. But if u cant fix a planet that already has all the right basic parameters for our species in place, why do they think its gonna be easier to terraform a planet far away with different gravity, atmosphere, length of days, magnetic field (if any) etc

 

To me the idea has always been ludicrus

Even Antarctica is waaaay more habitable than Mars, it has breathable air for one. It would be extremely difficult to make Earth even less hospitable than Mars.

I think the purpose of Mars colonisation is less about an Earth substitute and more just a stepping stone for galactic expansion. 

[CannaeDrive 3,412]

14 minutes ago, sarahb said:

I think the purpose of Mars colonisation is less about an Earth substitute and more just a stepping stone for galactic expansion. 

That's what I think too, Mars colonies being more like a relay station for human expansion in this universe, not a "second home" or substitute for a another earth-like home.

[PartySick 172,471]

23 minutes ago, sarahb said:

It would be extremely difficult to make Earth even less hospitable than Mars.

For sure. The issue wouldn't be Earth becoming uninhabitable, it'll just get harder and harder to sustain a huge population like ours.

 

2 hours ago, Economy said:

On this topic, they say when our planet warms up too much from the sun it will boil away water... anyone know how or why?

 

Water evaporates all the time but it doesnt disapear to space. Stays are humidity, clouds then falls back to Earth.

 

Warmer temperatures would increase that like a jungle but shouldnt our gravity still hold the water down to not go into space? I dont see why the amount matters.

 

Or would atmospheric pressure just increase a lot if a lot more water evaporated forcing some into space?

I've never heard that Earth's water would just boil off  even Venus has a ton of water vapor in its atmosphere and it's literally the hottest planet in the solar system.

Mars lost much of its atmosphere because of its size. It cooled faster which weakened its magnetosphere and it has lower gravity so solar wind blew the lightest stuff off the top of its atmosphere throwing everything else below out of whack. Now the air pressure is so low that water tries to boil and freeze (from the cold) at the same time  water vapor either blew away with the rest of the light stuff or it froze into the permafrost.

That wouldn't happen here. Earth is large enough that we've be able to retain our protective sphere and hold onto the water easily with gravity. Worst case scenario, the vapor would just become another heat trap in the atmosphere joining carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases...but if we got to that point, the rest of the planet would already be long dead

Nah, the only catastrophe we have to worry about is a mass die off of animal life and a serious strain on resources like food that sends human society into a spiraling collapse where only the rich will survive unless they get literally eaten by starving hordes of mid-apocalyptic peeps  no biggie

The Earth and life will be fine for at least another half a billion to a billion years. Humanity on the other hand