MAVEN Traces Mars's Atmospheric Loss to Solar Wind Stripping

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which concluded its 11-year Mars mission in June 2026, measured how solar wind interactions strip away the planet's upper atmosphere. By correlating escape rates with solar activity, MAVEN provided direct evidence that Mars transitioned from a potentially habitable world with a thicker atmosphere to its current cold, thin state. The findings fundamentally reshape understanding of planetary climate evolution and atmospheric loss mechanisms.