Exploring the atmospheres of terrestrial planets

The three terrestrial planets – Venus, Earth, and Mars – formed from the same ingredients in the circumstellar disk at about the same moment. Still, they evolved very differently and today only Earth is habitable and compatible with life such as we know it. While on Earth we observe a temperate climate, Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse while Mars seems to have lost most of its atmosphere. Understanding the main physical processes behind these different evolutionary paths is today more important than ever, both to understand the diversity of planets around other stars, and the future of climate on Earth.

We will explore the atmospheres of the three terrestrial planets, comparing their climates, dynamics, and composition. We will characterize their differences and similitudes making use of data acquired by ground-based telescopes as well as spacecrafts such as the European missions Mars Express, Venus Express and the very recent ExoMars TGO.