---
title: "This Video of Mars’ Leaking Atmosphere Could Make Elon Musk Cry"
description: "A stunning new NASA animation shows how solar winds are interacting with Mars' magnetosphere to strip away the planet's atmosphere."
date: "2020-05-27"
modified: "2020-05-27"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
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.md>) 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.md>) 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.md>) 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.md>)*

## 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>)

## More

- [NASA Has Plans to Give Mars a “Magnetic Shield” to Enable Human Colonization](<https://futurism.com/nasa-has-plans-to-give-mars-a-magnetic-shield-to-enable-human-colonization.md>)
- [NASA Says Powerful Solar Winds Blew Mars’ Water and Atmosphere Off the Planet](<https://futurism.com/nasa-says-solar-storms-destroyed-mars-atmosphere-and-water.md>)
- [Mars’ Magnetosphere Suddenly Tripled in Size Last Christmas Day](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mars-magnetosphere-tripled-christmas-day.md>)
- [NASA Suggests Giant Dust Storms Blew Mars’ Water Into Space](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-dust-storms-mars-water-space.md>)
- [A Lack of Carbon in Mars’ Atmosphere Leads Scientists to Ask: Did Mars Ever Have Much Water?](<https://futurism.com/site-of-martian-lakes-might-have-been-linked-to-ancient-habitable-environment.md>)
- [What a Beaut! Mars Shines in Gorgeous New UV Images](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mars-shines-uv-images.md>)
- [Scientists Say We Can’t Terraform Mars. Elon Musk Says We Can.](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/terraform-mars-elon-musk-nasa.md>)
- [Wind Blowing Out of Uranus Makes It Hard to Probe, NASA Complains](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hard-to-probe-uranus-with-wind-blowing-out-of-it-scientists-complain.md>)