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MAVEN Ready To Launch Today
An anonymous reader writes "Mars seems to have gone from being a warm, wet planet with a liquid core (with magnetic fields strong enough to maintain an atmosphere) to a cooled frozen desert-like surface. By gathering information about the Mars upper atmosphere and its magnetic field scientists hope MAVEN can help explain what happened and where the water went."
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av038/status.html
Any other links out there? I generally use Spaceflight Now for the text updats along with the live feed.
The radioactive decay present in the core would continue at the same rate it does on earth ... it's just that it would have started with less, and would still to this day have less.
But Mars probably started with less radioactive material. The density of Earth is 5.5 kg/l. The density of Mars is 3.9 kg/l. So something in the early solar system caused more dense elements to end up on Earth rather than Mars. Most geothermal heat is caused by the decay of Thorium. Thorium is very dense, and is probably present in significantly higher concentrations on Earth, compared to Mars.
No, but they do deflect the solar wind, which can contribute to atmospheric loss (but then there are other also interactions with the solar wind which make things more complicated).
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
There is a theory that early in the Earth's history it was struck by a Mars-sized body, blasting off a large portion of the crust and mantle (incidentally forming the moon) and leaving behind a relatively large metal-rich core.
Venus does have an induced magnetosphere which limits its atmospheric losses... and it has lost its water content to solar wind.
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The teams for Maven and Mangalyaan plan to collaborate in their studies of the Red Planet's atmosphere. For instance, there's been some evidence that methane is being released into the Martian atmosphere, which could hint at biological activity. Curiosity hasn't detected any methane at the surface, and Maven won't be measuring methane because that doesn't mesh with the mission's scientific goals. But Mangalyaan can take a closer look at the methane question, and its results could add to Maven's models.
Everything is better with chainsaws.