David Brain—Was Ancient Mars Earth-Like?

More than any other planet, Mars appears to be similar to Earth. It has mountains and volcanoes, canyons and polar caps, sand dunes and dust devils. Rovers on the surface of Mars return images that remind us of the desert regions of Arizona or New Mexico. But Mars is an incredibly inhospitable place today, with a thin, cold atmosphere incapable of supporting liquid water at the surface for extended periods. But was the Martian surface environment always so harsh? We see ancient river beds, and dried up lakes, and we see minerals that require liquid water to form.

In this February 2013 CU in the Community presentation, LASP's Dr. David Brain describes what Mars is like today, and what we think it was like long ago. He details why we think the Martian atmosphere changed, and how and when this change might have occurred. Finally, he introduces MAVEN, the next mission to Mars, which will study where the ancient Martian atmosphere could have gone.