Sounds like Early Earth or Earth during the Hadean (just pulled one out of Google's hat.):
The Hadean Earth was a hostile place for life. Hot and oxygen free (no diatomic oxygen or O2). The atmosphere was dense, with lots of water vapor, CO2, sulfur and nitrogen gases. When these reacted with water they produced HCl (hydrochloric acid), H2SO4 (sulfuric acid), HNO3 (nitric acid), etc. Not a nice place for life!
Precambrian Eon (3.8 to 0.545 Ga[1]): Radical Atmospheric changes and slow beginning of life
Archean Eon (3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago). By this time, the hostile acidic atmosphere is gone, but still no free oxygen. It is warm, so there’s lots of water in the atmosphere as well as CO2. (Perhaps 100 times more CO2 than today). The sun’s luminosity was perhaps 25% less than today. This leads to a paradox. If the sun was less intense, why didn’t the Earth freeze over? It seems that it was at least as warm as today because of the greenhouse effect. The excess CO2 and H2O trapped the heat from the sun from escaping out of the atmosphere. The temperatures may have been as high as 60°C.
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Mars may have 'made it' just long enough to have seen a bit of it's own version of the Archean.
Space/Science » in reply to Water is water is water...And that's the VUG'en truth.
re: Water is water is water... and sulfuric acid....
The whole thread (40 posts)
- "liquid water once drenched the surface" (Opportunity site). WOW! LIVENASATV news announcements on now folks. (n/t)
- A virtual toast with my bottle of Perrier :-)
- re: Samples
- We should be careful that the evidence so far is conclusive of ground water not surface water
- About Jarosite
- If It Looks Like A Duckand and Wobbles Like A Duck
- When Squyres said; Opportunity's landing was a hole in one, he wasn't kidding. Cheers to this outstanding MER mission (n/t)
- Thank God for the internet connection to NASA TV
- You beat me to it.... (n/t)