Watch: How did Mars lose its atmosphere?

(CBS News) Mars wasn't always the Red Planet. Eons ago, it is possible that Mars was as lush as Earth is today. So, what happened? NASA is on the case with this enlightening video of how Mars may have lost its atmosphere.

The idea behind the atmospheric "sputtering" Mars may have experienced is fairly simple to understand. But, of course, NASA is not sure this is what happened, which is why this educational video doubles as an announcement of the space agency's newest mission: the Mars Atmosphere And Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, which will launch sometime around December 2013. A NASA statement explains: "MAVEN will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The goal of MAVEN is to determine the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate through time."

[Jonathan5761]

I strongly believe that Mars lost it's water to earth. Some may laugh at this and argue the point but there is to much evidence to prove this. If you look at the surface of Mars, you can see that something very powerful took place causing massive canyons, in what looks like water ways. This was caused by massive amounts of water being lifted from the surface of Mars than much of that would go crashing back to the surface causing the damage that you see. I'm going to stop with that, but there is a ton of evidence proving my point.

[SpaceDudeSpiff]

Here's the big question - why does Venus have such a thick atmosphere and Mars not? Venus has no/minimal magnetic field (like Mars), and would seem to be more susceptible to sputtering, due to its proximity to the sun.

[SpaceDudeSpiff]

Here's the big question - why does Venus have such a thick atmosphere and Mars not? Venus has no/minimal magnetic field (like Mars), and would seem to be more susceptible to sputtering, due to its proximity to the sun.

[DerKooser]

It isn't lost. It is a big iceball underground. Don't you go to the movies! Arnold proved this.