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Science 27 August 1976:
Vol. 193. no. 4255, pp. 801 - 803
DOI: 10.1126/science.193.4255.801
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Articles

Composition of the Atmosphere at the Surface of Mars: Detection of Argon-36 and Preliminary Analysis

TOBIAS OWEN 1 and K. BIEMANN 2

1 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11794
2 Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139

The composition of the martian atmosphere was determined by the mass spectrometer in the molecular analysis experiment. The presence of argon and nitrogen was confirmed and a value of 1 to 2750 ± 500 for the ratio of argon-36 to argon-40 was established. A preliminary interpretation of these results suggests that Mars had a slightly more massive atmosphere in the past, but that much less total outgassing has occurred on Mars than on Earth.

Submitted on July 30, 1976


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