NASA just loves to hype up its announcements, but so far, they’ve never disappointed. Whether it was Earth-like planets or organic compounds on Mars, when NASA says something is big, it’s big.
Now, they said that they have something major to share on Thursday, at 2pm EST, about the Martian atmosphere. The most likely announcement will be how the atmosphere managed to thin so much, and whether or not it was sufficient at one point to support life.
The discovery probably came from MAVEN (Mars, Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars since 2014, focusing on the upper parts of the atmosphere. The spacecraft’s aim is to discover how the volatiles in the atmosphere vanished, and what their role was in the developing system. This could give significant information about Mars’ former climate and even potential habitability.
Artist’s reconstruction of Mars now, and at one point in the past. Image via NASA.
NASA’s Vine announced:
“The atmosphere on Mars is whisper-thin and drier than bone – but it wasn’t always that way. For the past year, the MAVEN mission has been orbiting the planet, piecing together clues about what happened to all the air on Mars. At 2pm EST on November 5, NASA will hold a briefing on some new findings about the Martian atmosphere.”
Of course, it could be something completely different, but whatever it is, it definitely has us excited. We’ll be reporting the announcement as soon as possible, but in the meantime you can also ask NASA on Twitter by using #AskNASA.
