Not only have the results reached by the team helped to confirm models of the interior of Mars, but they point the way for future geological investigations of other solar system planets including Earth's other neighbor, Venus, and the closest planet to the sun, Mercury. Curiosity rover finds metallic meteorite on Mars A month on 'Mars': A Kinder, Gentler Mars Mars on Earth: What months of simulated astronaut missions taught this scientist Strange circular dunes on Mars spotted in these NASA photos NASA is about to lock these 4 researchers in a simulated Mars outpost for a year That means that there had to be certain conditions that allowed the hydrogen to be there, and we have to understand those conditions in order to understand how Mars evolved into the planet it is today.' 'For example, there are small traces of hydrogen in Mars' core. 'It's like a puzzle in some ways,' Lekic said. And the team thinks that the interior of the planet and the bombardment of space rocks across its surface may have played a key role in this evolution. The researchers think that Mars may have gradually evolved into the planet we see today transforming from a habitable environment to one hostile to life. Traces of magnetism in the crust of Mars indicates that the Red Planet did once have this magnetic shielding that would have protected the complex molecules needed for life from harsh solar radiation that would break them apart. Mars' core does not generate this protective shield, and so the planet's surface conditions are hostile to life.' 'The uniqueness of Earth's core allows it to generate a magnetic field that protects us from solar winds, allowing us to keep water. The end result of the formation and evolution processes can be either the generation or absence of life-sustaining conditions,' UMD Associate Professor of Geology and research author, Nicholas Schmerr, explained. 'You can think of it this way the properties of a planet's core can serve as a summary about how the planet formed and how it evolved dynamically over time. This could indicate that the two neighboring planets experienced different formation conditions. Earth's core has a much lower percentage of light elements implying that the core of Mars is much less dense than the core of our own planet. The team was also able to determine some of the chemical elements that compose the Martian core finding evidence of a surprisingly large proportion of light elements such as sulfur and oxygen in its innermost layer. The team managed to unearth a high proportion of sulfur and oxygen and other light elements in the innermost layer.

Mars by Leonard David