Mars saga. . . . .the Maven mission ....reveals

[PB666]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasa-mars-announcement-agency-likely-to-announce-how-red-planet-went-from-more-habitable-to-cold-and-a6722196.html

Some sort of announcement of the mission that has been gathering data since last year.

[Scotius]

Why is NASA turning into something resembling a celebrity attention hog? They are our best and brightest scientists, tasked with unveiling mysteries of the Universe. And yet they behave like a vapid bimbo with a serious IQ deficit, spreading cryptic messages on social media sites to drum up hype. O tempora. O mores.

[Jovus]

Because they need funding, and this is all they know about how to secure funding.

[Camacha]

http://goinswriter.com/the-difference-between-good-writers-and-bad-writers/

[Nikolai]

Why is NASA turning into something resembling a celebrity attention hog?

Because they tried having an open-door policy with commitment to quiet, understated intelligence, and no one cared. And like it or not, NASA runs on political support, so they have to convince people with a seemingly endless list of important concerns to address all day (and that just in order to squeak by) that they're relevant, all the time.

EDIT: My apologies if that was too brusque. As someone directly involved in an outreach program that is trying to advance public awareness and relations for Jet Propulsion Labs, I'm acutely aware of how difficult it is to compete with all the other voices vying for the attention of the American citizen. I learned rather early on that trying to reach people where they're at is far more effective, engaging, and rewarding than bemoaning why they won't come to you on whatever arbitrary terms you're trying to set.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Nikolai

[Aethon]

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-mission-reveals-speed-of-solar-wind-stripping-martian-atmosphere

http://www.space.com/31031-mars-atmosphere-discovery-nasa-maven.html

New results from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft suggest that the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere  which had kept Mars relatively warm and allowed the planet to support liquid surface water  to space about 3.7 billion years ago.

"We think that all of the action took place between about 4.2 to 3.7 billion years ago," MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder..

I'm confused. Wasn't the late Heavy bombardment smashing volatile rich planetesimals into planets and moons that would replenish Mars atmosphere right around this time?

[PB666]

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-mission-reveals-speed-of-solar-wind-stripping-martian-atmosphere

http://www.space.com/31031-mars-atmosphere-discovery-nasa-maven.html

New results from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft suggest that the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere  which had kept Mars relatively warm and allowed the planet to support liquid surface water  to space about 3.7 billion years ago.

"We think that all of the action took place between about 4.2 to 3.7 billion years ago," MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder..

I'm confused. Wasn't the late Heavy bombardment smashing volatile rich planetesimals into planets and moons that would replenish Mars atmosphere right around this time?

It lost atmosphere more rapidly than it was replenished.

Tagging along for the ride from the 2nd link:

Auroras, interplanetary dust and more

The other, related papers published today in Science shed new light on the composition of Mars' upper atmosphere; provide new details about the Red Planet's intriguing, diffuse auroras, which are similar in some ways to the gorgeous northern lights displays seen on Earth; and report the detection of dust that appears to be interplanetary in origin.

Bruce Jakosky-"It tells us that solar particles are streaming directly into the Mars atmosphere, where they can have an impact." -http://www.space.com/31031-mars-atmosphere-discovery-nasa-maven.html - Mars Lost Atmosphere to Space as Life Took Hold on Earth

by Mike Wall, Space.com

Edited November 5, 2015 by PB666