• emergencyfood
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    But all of its atmosphere leaked out into space

    Wasn’t that because Mars isn’t heavy enough?

    • sparkle@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Well, its small mass certainly contributed to it losing heat more efficiently. But Mercury (much less massive than Mars) and Ganymede (around the same mass as Mars) both have a magnetic field, so there are a lot of other factors at play. Something to do with a change in the chemical composition of Mars’ mantle, and the possible lack of plate tectonics, I’m not so familiar with the causes though.