At first, scientists had two plausible theories of this mystery. The first was that an asteroid crashing into Mars caused a catastrophe that destroyed most of the planet's atmosphere.
The other theory was that Mars, which does not have a strong natural magnetic field, lost its atmosphere in a process that lasted for millions of years, rather than suddenly, by erosion caused by the interaction with the solar wind.
This phenomenon, called sputtering, could have been caused by energetic particles hitting atoms forming gases in the atmosphere and tossing them into space. It was also thought that the early conditions of the solar system increased the loss due to eruption, so that the atmosphere of Mars might have been lost as a result of multiple complex mechanisms operating simultaneously.
NASA's first stop in this effort to find an answer to this question was the MGS (Mars Global Surveyor) spacecraft, which has been orbiting Mars since 1997. The instrument observed that the magnetic field of Mars did not cover the entire planet, but consisted of numerous umbrella-shaped areas extending from the surface of the planet to the upper part of the atmosphere. These umbrellas covered about 40% of the planet's surface area and were mostly collected in the southern hemisphere.
The first thing that comes to mind is that these magnetic umbrellas, like Earth's magnetic field, protect the Mars air beneath it (carbon dioxide, not oxygen and nitrogen, as we breathe).
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