NASA's Mars-orbiting MAVEN spacecraft has gathered new evidence which scientists say appears to prove its the sun that has been robbing the red planet of its atmosphere and water.
Researchers say solar winds are still stripping Mars of its water at a rate of around a 1/4-pound per-second.
Bruce Jakosky, who heads up the research done through MAVEN, says they believe Mars lost its atmosphere hundreds-of-millions of years ago.
"Most of the stripping by the solar wind at Mars was thought to have taken place very early in the solar system when the sun was much more active, when the solar wind was more intense. So today the rate of loss at Mars is low."
In noting this, Jakosky points out the earth is also losing its atmosphere as well because of the sun, but at a much slower rate.
NASA's MAVEN project has been circling and studying Mars for the past year.
