Where did Mars' atmosphere go? Scientists say it may be 'hiding in plain sight

[Admin]

New research suggests that the atmosphere of Mars could have literally "gone to ground" as carbon dioxide was greedily slurped out of the atmosphere and locked away by Red Planet clays.

Where did Mars' atmosphere go? Scientists say it may be 'hiding in plain sight : Read more

 

[Balter]

Mars has never had a significant atmosphere and never will: it is simply too small and does not have the required gravity to hold on to an atmosphere.

 

[Mex]

Sure it did. We know that Mars had a much denser atmosphere than it does today because we've found iron meteorites on the surface of Mars that were heated as they fell. And Jupiter's moon Titan has an atmosphere that's 2 ATA on the surface, twice the surface pressure of our atmosphere on Earth, in spite having far less gravity than Mars.

 

[billslugg]

Venus has 2.4 times the gravity of Mars.
Venus ionosphere generates a sufficient magnetic field to protect the atmosphere from stripping.
Venus may also be replenishing the atmosphere from volcanic activity.

 

[SeldonCrisisJoel]

Sure it did. We know that Mars had a much denser atmosphere than it does today because we've found iron meteorites on the surface of Mars that were heated as they fell. And Jupiter's moon Titan has an atmosphere that's 2 ATA on the surface, twice the surface pressure of our atmosphere on Earth, in spite having far less gravity than Mars.

The article mentions the potential use for fuel, but the question that occurs to me is how the carbon in the smectites could be reconverted into atmosphere?