NASA's Maven spacecraft gets first look at Mars' atmosphere

First images reveal storm of energetic solar particles on Mars Hoped mission will explain how the martianatmosphere'escaped' leaving a barrenplanet

By Mark Prigg for MailOnline

Published: 18:36 EST, 14 October 2014 | Updated: 18:44 EST, 14 October 2014

It is a mission set to solve the mystery of what happened to the atmosphere on Mars.

Nasa's Maven spacecraft has given scientists their first glimpse of the upper atmosphere of the red planet, which has baffled them for decades.

It is hoped the craft can explain why the red planet lost most of its atmosphere.

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Unprecedented ultraviolet images of the tenuous oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon coronas surrounding the Red Planet, taken by Nasa's Maven spacecraft

The hydrogen and oxygen coronas of Mars are the tenuous outer fringe of the planet's upper atmosphere, where the edge of the atmosphere meets space.

In this region, atoms that were once a part of carbon dioxide or water molecules near the surface can escape to space.

Originally posted here:

NASA's Maven spacecraft gets first look at Mars' atmosphere

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