The astrophysicist team at the University of Oklahoma explained how the growth of Mars was limited to orbital instability among the giant planets of the outer solar system. The study is based on the well-known model of Nice, which uses planetary instability to explain many specific observable aspects of the external system.
Using computer simulations, it was possible to show how the accretion of the planet (growth) stops due to instability in the external system. If it were not for this, then Mars could become a larger and livable world. The calculations were based on the resources of the Supercomputer Center of the University, as well as the Blue Waters project.
The purpose of the study was to study the simulated systems in which planets like Mars were created. Recent geological data from Earth and Mars show that the formation period of the Red Planet was 10 times shorter than for the Earth. This led to the idea that Mars had become a “stuck planetary embryo” during the formation of the inner planets. The early instability of the planet offers a natural explanation of the process. It was also established that the success of modeling the Earth's planetary formation is associated with the detailed development of Jupiter and Saturn. In systems where the orbits of the post-instability giants were most similar to the original, managed to create terrestrial planets that resembled modern in the solar system.
