Apart from orbiting probes and rovers currently exploring the surface and atmosphere of Mars, NASA scientists also launched an airborne telescope that scanned the Red Planet's tenuous atmosphere. Known as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) telescope, mission scientists revealed that SOFIA just detected atomic oxygen in the Martian atmosphere.

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For the first time ever, SOFIA confirms the presence of a small amount of atomic oxygen on Mars. According to SOFIA project scientist, Pamela Marcum from NASA's Ames Research Center, in order to gain observations of far infrared wavelengths that are required in detecting atomic oxygen, ultra sensitive instruments should be placed above the majority of the Earth's atmosphere, such as a spectrometer, where SOFIA is capable to do both. 

Researchers at the SOFIA Science Center in NASA's Ames Research Center, reveal that advanced detectors inside SOFIA such as the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) also enabled scientists to determine the oxygen signatures in Mars' atmosphere, distinguishing it from those present in Earth's atmosphere.

NASA mission scientists believe that this atomic oxygen presence is crucial for the atmosphere of Mars as it affects the behavior of elements found in it. Atomic oxygen can affect how gases can escape the atmosphere of Mars, even before it transforms or registers or cause a significant impact on it.

After collecting much of this important data, mission scientists will analyze their new findings obtained from SOFIA. Measuring atomic oxygen is a challenging task however, with the help of SOFIA, this data can potentially reveal more about the evolution of Mars and its meteorological past, and more importantly, shed more light about the presence of life on the otherwise arid, dusty world.  

To date, SOFIA is not only the world's largest airborne telescope but it is also the world's largest airborne observatory. The observatory is located on a Boeing 747 which can fly at higher altitudes than commercial planes, for the space plane to obtain astronomical measurements and data. Apart from Martian atomic oxygen, SOFIA is also involved with numerous space missions and projects for NASA.

Tagsatomic oxygen, mars atmosphere, mars exploration, NASA, NASA SOFIA, Mars