Mars May Have the Answers to Climate Change Problem on Earth

One look at the Mars surface and its cold desert and flowing rivers tell a story of existing water bodies at some point. However, the current density of atmosphere on Mars is 0.6% of the Earth's density which cannot support any water or life form on its sterile surface.

However, there must have been a time in the planet's history when the atmosphere was thicker and denser, perhaps due to presence of CO2. If the scientists can identify what happened to happened to all that CO2, it can help the scientists on Earth to deal with the increasing carbon problem on our planet. It is no news that the high level of carbon is the main reason why we are witnessing climate change.

So what happened to the atmosphere on Mars? Most of it scattered into space due to solar winds and some of it got deposited at the ice poles where it can still be found. However, some part of this atmosphere got converted into carbonate minerals and have been conserved through ages. Rovers and satellites and meteoric evidence from the ones that ejected from Mars and landed on Earth, explain how this mineral carbonation can change the planet's atmosphere.

Over the years, humans have perfected the job of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing them as liquid, carefully and steadily, over millions of years. This process is "mineral carbon sequestration," simply put, a process that converts atmospheric CO2 gas into a stable mineral called carbonate. 

This is how we can benefit from Mars. By analyzing the fate of Martian carbonates in long-term and how they will interact with atmosphere as well as hydrosphere will tell us how helpful this type of carbon storage can be for our planet.