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Astronomy

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    $\begingroup$ Great answer, but I believe the paragraph starting with "According to table 5" has some typos. I believe you dropped some zeros since the numbers as written were .3 at 100k, .1 at 200K, .5 at 300K, .2 at 400K, and suddenly down to .007 at 500K. $\endgroup$
    – Seth Robertson
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 2:47
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    $\begingroup$ TLDR: It is planetary mass, not magnetic field that plays the dominant factor for keeping a neutral atmosphere. $\endgroup$
    – AtmosphericPrisonEscape
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 11:34
  • $\begingroup$ "Due to the lack of the intrinsic magnetic field on Venus, the solar wind penetrates relatively deep into the planetary exosphere and causes substantial atmosphere loss." +1... "work using NASA's MAVEN orbiter found that much the planet's atmosphere was stripped away by the solar wind—charged particles streaming from the sun—perhaps just 500 million years after Mars formed." -1... "it lost its atmosphere to space after losing its magnetic field, its small size prevented it from holding its atmosphere" -1/+1... TLDR Because Mars has neither the mass nor a field, and Venus almost has both. $\endgroup$
    – Mazura
    Commented Oct 15, 2022 at 19:49
  • $\begingroup$ I think there's a missing zero in the fraction of Mars' atmosphere remaining after 300,000 years. $\endgroup$
    – Mark H
    Commented Oct 16, 2022 at 20:24