The same theory says Earth once had more atmosphere than it does now. It leaks away too, but with our higher gravity less of it escapes. In the end, Earth will be barren too, just like Mars (so they say).
Herzog has a point - Mars will never be habitable on its surface - but neither will the Moon.
‘In the end, Earth will be barren too, just like Mars (so they say).”
“In the long run we are all dead.” J M K
That is a lot of water. Wonder how it got there.
There’s an old theory that Mars once had an atmosphere, but was of insufficient size for its gravity to hold it. Over millions of years it leaked out into space - only a trace is left. All liquid water was lost too, unless it was underground or permanently frozen. Some of my favorite science fiction is about ancient Mars civilizations, once vital but now dead or dying.
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The Martians, wanted to save their planet from global warming by reducing CO2. They succeeded wildly. CO2 levels dropped to the point where all plant life was extinguished which extinguished the production of oxygen. Without new CO2 production and no plants to make it, the remaining atmosphere slowly was scrubbed away by the solar winds.