<p>As scientists the world over are excited about the presence of water on Mars, a new research on meteorites reveals how the water vanished from the Martian surface.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The large amounts of water escaped into space within the first half-billion years of Mars' existence while remaining water froze and may have formed reservoirs of ice still hidden below the surface, a promising study shows.<br /><br />"The new study now strengthens the case that huge amounts of ice remain hidden on Mars," lead author Hiroyuki Kurokawa of Nagoya University in Japan was quoted as saying. <br /><br />According to the scientists, most of the water on Mars probably escaped because the planet's gravity was not sufficient to hold onto its atmosphere. <br /><br />Over time, the water on Mars evaporated and drifted away into space.<br /><br />To estimate this, the researchers analysed three different meteorites from 4.5 billion years ago, 4.1 billion years ago, and sometime between 170 million and 180 million years ago.<br /><br />They created a timeline of water loss. It showed that Mars may have lost several times more water between 4.5 billion and 4.1 billion years ago than the past four billion years.<br /><br />"There must be a lot of water still on Mars today - several times more than the water frozen at the poles," Kurokawa suggested in the paper that is scheduled to be published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.</p>
<p>As scientists the world over are excited about the presence of water on Mars, a new research on meteorites reveals how the water vanished from the Martian surface.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The large amounts of water escaped into space within the first half-billion years of Mars' existence while remaining water froze and may have formed reservoirs of ice still hidden below the surface, a promising study shows.<br /><br />"The new study now strengthens the case that huge amounts of ice remain hidden on Mars," lead author Hiroyuki Kurokawa of Nagoya University in Japan was quoted as saying. <br /><br />According to the scientists, most of the water on Mars probably escaped because the planet's gravity was not sufficient to hold onto its atmosphere. <br /><br />Over time, the water on Mars evaporated and drifted away into space.<br /><br />To estimate this, the researchers analysed three different meteorites from 4.5 billion years ago, 4.1 billion years ago, and sometime between 170 million and 180 million years ago.<br /><br />They created a timeline of water loss. It showed that Mars may have lost several times more water between 4.5 billion and 4.1 billion years ago than the past four billion years.<br /><br />"There must be a lot of water still on Mars today - several times more than the water frozen at the poles," Kurokawa suggested in the paper that is scheduled to be published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.</p>