The evolution of the Martian atmosphere is influenced by a number of processes, including outgassing from the planetary interior, impacts of comets and meteors, atmosphere-surface interactions, and by escape of volatiles to space. A quantification of the processes by which volatiles are lost irreversibly to space is crucial to a reconstruction of the evolution of the Martian environment. Dr. Jane Fox and her colleagues will model the photochemical and sputtering escape fluxes of oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen simultaneously as a function of time from the present to the end of late heavy bombardment, about 3.8 billion years ago. This will allow the investigators to predict the history of nitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere.
