Is Mars' Atmosphere Locked in its Rocks?

The atmosphere of Mars may not have escaped into space billions of years ago, scientists say. Instead, the bulk of Mars' carbon dioxide gas could be locked inside Martian rocks.

Most of Mars' carbon dioxide vanished about 4 bildflion years ago, leaving a cold planet covered in a thin veneer of gas. But a new analysis of a Martian meteorite claims that some of the carbon dioxide disappeared into Mars itself, and not out into space as previous studies have suggested.

"This is the first direct evidence of how carbon dioxide is removed, trapped and stored on Mars," said Tim Tomkinson, lead study author and a geochemist at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. "We can find out amazing things about Mars from the very small amount of sample that we have."

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