Mars dried up longer than previously thought

Mars rover Curiosity, which is currently conducting a study of Mars, continues to provide data to help scientists clarify important milestones in the history of the planet. In the crater of Gail, the rover took samples of rocks that, after verification, turned out to be clay, which was formed many years ago. And these samples have become for scientists almost one hundred percent proof of the existence of Mars in the past, liquid water and a dense atmosphere.

Scientists have learned that in the crater of Gale there was previously a huge lake. The presence of liquid water has left its very visible to experts traces. Among other things, it turned out that in ancient clays there is not only ordinary hydrogen, but also more “heavy” deuterium.
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By the way, the specialists of the Earth have long had particles of Mars - meteorites that came from the Red Planet to Earth. These meteorites can be considered tablets, which bear data on the initial conditions that prevailed on Mars many millions of years ago. Now the data obtained from the study of such meteorites can be compared with the data obtained by Curiosity. And this, in turn, allows you to find out how quickly Mars lost water and hydrogen.

Scientists have found that more hydrogen goes into space than it settles in rocks. Every second Mars loses about 10 ^ 26 hydrogen atoms (this is about 166 grams). When calculating the rate of hydrogen loss, Mars managed to find out that the Red Planet was losing water much slower than previously thought. However, the process of "drying up" of Mars itself began earlier than experts thought.