The planet Mars twisted
in record time and reached its current size in just three million years, much
faster than scientists thought. That rate of formation of the Red Planet could
explain that its mass is one tenth of that of the Earth. The study supports a
theory more than two decades, according to which the planet remained small
because it avoided collisions with what would become the "planetary
construction materials", ie other objects in space. The finding is
published in the journal Nature.
In the early days of
the solar system before the planets were formed, a cloud of gas and dust
surrounding the Sun Scientists believe that the planets arose from the
accumulation of this material driven by electrostatic energy.