Studying the Climate History of Mars – a new Habitable Worlds grant to BMSIS Scientist Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra

Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra of the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science was recently awarded a grant by the NASA Habitable Worlds program to study the climate history of early Mars.

This project will draw upon recent geologic discoveries from the ongoing exploration of Mars to understand how Mars was once able to sustain an unfrozen ocean. Dr. Haqq-Misra will collaborate with Dr. Michael Way of NASA GISS in this project, which uses computational models of the Martian climate to calculate plausible climates of the Red Planet from its early history through today.

Understanding the history of liquid water on Mars can help us understand if life ever developed there (and if it is still around!). The climate history of Mars may also hold clues that can even help astrobiologists search for life on distant planets around other stars.

Overview:

Proposal title: Constraining the Climate Trajectory of Early Mars Using an Optimized Ensemble of Climate Calculations

Duration: 3 years