---
title: "This Video of Mars’ Leaking Atmosphere Could Make Elon Musk Cry"
description: "A new stunning set of NASA animations reveal how the Sun is slowly stripping away the Red Planet’s atmosphere. The animations, created from data gathered by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft as it orbited Mars, show that Mars’ magnetosphere is too weak to protect the planet from harsh solar winds that have been blowing away […]"
date: "2020-05-27"
modified: "2020-05-27"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-mars-leaking-atmosphere-elon-musk"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Mars"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "mars"
  - "NASA"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Video of Mars’ Leaking Atmosphere Could Make Elon Musk Cry

![A stunning new NASA animation shows how solar winds are interacting with Mars' magnetosphere to strip away the planet's atmosphere.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/video-mars-leaking-atmosphere-elon-musk.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Blowing Away

A new stunning set of NASA animations reveal how the Sun is slowly stripping away the Red Planet's atmosphere.

The animations, created from data gathered by NASA's [MAVEN spacecraft](<https://futurism.com/after-1000-days-orbit-10-most-remarkable-things-maven-taught-us>) as it orbited Mars, show that Mars' magnetosphere is too weak to protect the planet from harsh solar winds that have gradually blown away much of its atmosphere, *[Inverse](<https://www.inverse.com/science/mars-electric-currents-map>)*[ reports](<https://www.inverse.com/science/mars-electric-currents-map>). The [new animation](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKak9bNGjU>) also provides the best look yet at the electrical currents surrounding Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKak9bNGjU

## Gale Force

Previous research attempting to explain how Mars gradually lost much of its atmosphere pointed to giant dust [storms on the surface](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-dust-storms-mars-water-space>) as the main culprit. But [the new research](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1099-y>), published Monday in the journal *Nature Astronomy*, argues that magnetic interactions between the planet's magnetosphere and solar winds, which *Inverse* reports blast outward at a million miles per hour, are responsible for driving away the atmosphere.

"Mars' atmosphere behaves a bit like a metal sphere closing an electric circuit," lead researcher Robin Ramstad [said in a press release](<https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2020/mars-electric-currents>). That circuit, Ramstad added, is directly caused by the powerful solar winds.

## Fury Road

We've long known that [Earth's magnetosphere protects](<https://futurism.com/6-horrible-consequences-earth-losing-magnetic-field>) our planet from our sun's dangerous rays and solar winds, but this research is the clearest display yet of the impact those winds can have.

The researchers suggest, *Inverse* reports, that these solar winds could have done so much damage to Mars' atmosphere that the now-barren rock was once a lush, watery world that was gradually stripped bare.

**READ MORE:** [THESE TRIPPY MARTIAN VISUALS HOLD CLUES TO WHY THE PLANET LOST ITS ATMOSPHERE](<https://www.inverse.com/science/mars-electric-currents-map>) \[*Inverse*\]

**More on Mars' atmosphere:** *[NASA Suggests Giant Dust Storms Blew Mars' Water Into Space](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-dust-storms-mars-water-space>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)