If there was water on mars for thousands of years where did it go?

Question

Its a fact there is ice on mars. Congrats NASA a project that actually did what was planed. Not only is there ice but there was water and lots of it. there were lakes and even waterfalls. then X happened and it all disappeared or froze. WTH happened. did mars go through global cooling or something? I mean its orbit hasn't changed has it? so the general temperatures should be about the same so why did all the water freeze? is this proof that there was life on mars and the ****** up and caused global cooling (sarcasm)? WTH happen over there?

Answer 1

Perhaps 2 billion years ago Mars had an active volcanic geology.  This would have pushed gasses and water from underground into the atmosphere.  At this time it is quite likely that Mars had a similar atmosphere to the Earth of that time.  Mars however is a much smaller planet and its internal heat was quickly lost and the volcanism stopped and so the source of gas and water stopped.  Being small also meant that it did not have the gravity to hold on to its atmosphere and this slowly leaked away into space along with the water.

Answer 2

Water needs a certain pressure to exist as a liquid.  Mars' atmospheric pressure is waaaaaay less than that.

So I think the theory is that water exists underground (where there is a lot of pressure) and sometimes is released onto the surface where it flows briefly but then evaporates quickly.

Answer 3

water went underground and to the poles

Answer 4

the aliens probably drank up all the water.

Answer 5

Mars is a small planet, thus with a weaker gravity. It has also a thinner atmosphere, compared to that of the Earth's. At some point it starts losing water molecules by simply evaporating it and it got flown out spaceward! all that was left were "stored" in a cooler place and that's beneath the soil! and also on the north pole! it's that simple!

Answer 6

Mars is too small to have active geology so doesn't have a magnetic field.  That may have caused the loss of most of the atmosphere including water by slow erosion from the solar wind.  Most of the water probably sank underground over time.  It is too cold and the air to thin to ever have much water on the surface for very long.

Answer 7

There may be frozen water deposits underground.  Or it could have all sublimated into the atmosphere, the molecules broken down by the solar radiation, and have been lost to space eons ago.  

Answer 8

Hun ya need to correct yourself, nasa said there IS water on mars as we speak, in the form of liquid and also frozen.

Answer 9

since man has been on earth for millions of years, its possible that these planets were inhabited, long before we can remember.

Answer 10

The atmosphere of Mars is mostly carbon dioxide, and when liquid water was present billions of years ago, it was likely much thicker, and, because CO2 is a green-house gas, probably allowed water to exist as a liquid.  

Mars has no magnetic field, therefore no protection from solar wind; current theory is that solar wind particles eventually "blew away" pieces of Mars' atmosphere, slowly, over the billions of years. As the atmosphere slowly reduced, the water was more likely to vaporize, and it, too, was removed by solar winds.

Until you get what you see today - a cold, dry planet, with traces of water ice, and a lot of dry ice.  

Answer 11

Millions of years ago it was hit by a huge meter that knocked it into a bigger orbit, further from the sun.