Tag Archives: asteroid belt

Asteroid impacts+hydrogen = recipe for Mars life

Posted on March 25, 2019 by rburnham

A new study reveals asteroid impacts on ancient Mars could have produced key ingredients for life if the Martian atmosphere was rich in hydrogen. An early hydrogen-rich atmosphere on Mars could also explain how the planet remained habitable after its … Continue reading →

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How often does Mars get whacked?

Posted on June 30, 2011 by rburnham

Or — to pose this question more usefully — what’s the rate of crater-making impacts on Mars as compared to, say, the Moon? Why the Moon? Because it’s the one extraterrestrial body for which scientists have both a long visible … Continue reading →

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Why is Mars so small?

Posted on June 5, 2011 by rburnham

Because it was starved during infancy, says Kevin Walsh (Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur and Southwest Research Institute, Boulder). In a paper in Nature, written with four colleagues and published June 5, 2011, he argues that when the planets were … Continue reading →

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