Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere four billion years ago

Guardian UK ^ | Wednesday 19 June 2013 13.00 EDT

[Perdogg]

Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere more than a billion years before the Earth, say scientists. An examination of meteorites and rocks on the planet suggests that oxygen was affecting the Martian surface four billion years ago.

On Earth, oxygen did not build up to appreciable quantities in the atmosphere for at least another 1.5bn years

[Friendofgeorge]

Breaking News... Neither Mars nor Earth was here 4 Billion years ago..whatever

[NonValueAdded]

Then man came along, burned his fossil fuels, and screwed it all up. Oh, wait, that was Venus. Nevermind.

[entropy12]

Breaking News.........The last ice age ended due to global warming caused by the cave man burning too many twigs!

[null and void]

Hmmmm? Free oxygen? O₂?

In the absence of life and the presence of pretty much anything else that just doesn't happen.

[MHGinTN]

True, in a way. The entire Galaxy was somewhere else four billion years ago. Everything is in motion dontchaknow.

[Michael.SF.]

Climate change probably.

[Buckeye McFrog]

we’ve just gotta find a way to get past those mutants and reach the control panel on the generator and...

[ArrogantBustard]

Dead Mars, Dying Earth.

I make no representation regarding the scientific accuracy of the book or the sanity of the authors.

[chuckles]

The whole reason Mars has no atmosphere of any gas is that it's mass is not great enough to hold any gas close to the surface. Are they saying Mars was bigger back then? If we released an atmosphere on Mars it would just dissipate into space in a short time. It would never be thick enough to breath for any length of time. Ergo my theory that we are looking for life that never could have existed.

Anytime I see this stuff, I always look at some study group looking for grant money.

[Friendofgeorge]

Was speaking of my Christian Bible, ask someone like Franklin Graham how old the world is

They, so called scientists, have no idea how old things are past a certain point

Plus they are blinded as are all non Believers, there is a veil over their understanding, until they accept Christ

Even carbon dating, they are fooling themselves

[Hegewisch Dupa]

no, they were but just a half-billion years old. Doesn’t seem right for there to be free O2 (’Free O2’ is also a good band name; especially when one takes into account how cool it looks on the marque) at such an early age.

[cuban leaf]

Everything in face is falling...somewhere. Our solar system is just all falling together. As is our galaxy.

[cuban leaf]

face = space.

No, really! ;-)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Perhaps in 4 billion years, when Venus is habitable by life like us, scientists will discover that Earth once had an oxygen rich atmosphere.

[HerrBlucher]

Yup, Mars is a runt.

[Moonman62]

Mars owes its dry and dusty appearance to its wispy atmosphere, less than 1 percent of the thickness of the Earth's. But it wasn't always that way: The Red Planet formerly had a much thicker atmosphere that probably allowed for liquid water on the surface, an atmosphere that was depleted when the planet's magnetic field faded away.

[MHGinTN]

I am a Christian. Can you tell me when the where/when of the being who wrote on the palace wall in Daniel Chapter five was created?

I mean, if you want to use the Bible and only the Bible as sole authority on things, what do you do with the things the Bible does not address?

What do you do with the obvious blanks God left in the record regarding the timing of things and the transposition of time scales? From God's perspective at the moment of Creation of the entire Universe, not even seven days have finished [see Dr Schroeder's explanation at http://www.geraldschroeder.com/AgeUniverse.aspx] .

From our perspective looking back to the moment of Creation, approximately fifteen billion years have elapsed.

As Christians we are instructed to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. That doesn't mean have an open mind so open that your brains/common sense fall out. Nor does it mean that you should close you mind to anything that is not straight from the Bible.

[Stormdog]

What we do know is that they haven’t found beer, porn or ESPN so therefore: Men are not from Mars.

[chuckles]

IMO, and just my opinion because I'm a Christian, There is NO other life other than what was covered in the Bible. If there is space aliens, they are either demons or angels, otherwise I believe it is just wishful thinking by non believers to prove the Bible a mistake. All other opinions are people wanting money to study nothing. A whole industry( which I support,BTW) NASA needs money for pure research. I love science, but what is going on today is more religion than science. Their religion DEMANDS that there MUST be life elsewhere and that will prove there is no God. It has nothing to do with establishing facts, but furthering unprovable myths that change every few years.

Any anomalies that don't fit their paradigm are just thrown overboard until they can no longer support the theory and look sane. Many scientific carriers have ended trying to go against the accepted theory only to be proved wrong later.