What is the main constituent of the atmosphere of Mars?
Atmosphere of Mars atmosphere is thinnest." Spectroscopic observations in the 1860s and 1870s led many to think the atmosphere of Mars is similar to Earth's. In 1894, though, spectral analysis and other qualitative observations by William Wallace Campbell suggested Mars resembles the Moon, which has no appreciable atmosphere, in many respects. In 1926, photographic observations by William Hammond Wright at the Lick Observatory allowed Donald Howard Menzel to discover quantitative evidence of Mars's atmosphere. The main component of the atmosphere of Mars is carbon dioxide () at 95.9%. Each pole is in continual darkness during its hemisphere's winter, and the surface gets so
Atmosphere of Mars reported studies, based on measurements by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the "Curiosity" rover, of the Martian atmosphere using xenon and argon isotopes. Results provided support for a "vigorous" loss of atmosphere early in the history of Mars and were consistent with an atmospheric signature found in bits of atmosphere captured in some Martian meteorites found on Earth. This was further supported by results from the MAVEN orbiter circling Mars, that the solar wind is responsible for stripping away the atmosphere of Mars over the years. In September 2017, NASA reported radiation levels on the surface of