Mars almost certainly had an abundant supply of H 2 O early in its history, just

Question

Mars almost certainly had an abundant supply of H2O early in its history, just like Earth.  Mars was warmer then and volcanic activity was more prevalent as Mars was venting its heat of formation, heat generated by widespread comet and asteroid bombardment and core radioactivity-generated heat. We would expect, then, that it was very much like Earth during its early existence and, in particular, that its primordial atmosphere probably started out with approximately the same chemical composition as Earth. Moreover, Mars is only 50% further from the Sun than Earth.  Nonetheless, the future evolution of the Martian atmosphere took a different path than Earth

Explanation / Answer

The early photosynthetic plant life that emerged on Mars absorbed most of the CO2 that it needed for a strong greenhouse to keep water liquid. Mars, then froze over and the plants died.

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