The clues are adding up to give a picture of a distant Martian past, when the planet had a thick atmosphere that was warm enough for water to stream on the surface. But now the water’s gone, and the atmosphere is so thin that any water would boil away.

In fact, the vestigial atmosphere is still slowly dissipating into space. Why? Well, researchers believe that solar wind and radiation is behind the theft, and they’re planning a mission to find out, called MAVEN: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission

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Scientific American - Space