Curiosity rolls on: Mars Science Laboratory project scientist Ashwin Vasavada
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
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The Mystery of Mars
We are quite convinced now that mars was very wet. There's lots of evidence for rivers that flowed on mars for extended periods of time. Where the mystery seems to be is how the atmosphere was able to retain the warmth necessary to have stable water on mars for such a long time. The sun was fainter back in the early period of mars history, and mars probably never had too thick of an atmosphere,. so you didn't have a lot of chance for really extreme greenhouse warming to keep it warm.
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