Kane started out doubtful that Mars could leave a clear fingerprint in Earth\u2019s deep climate history. \u201cI knew Mars had some effect on Earth, but I assumed it was tiny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What the simulations found when Mars was removed<\/p>\n
To test the idea, the team ran simulations of the solar system and tracked how Earth\u2019s orbital shape changed. Orbital shape is basically how \u201cstretched\u201d Earth\u2019s path around the Sun becomes, and that stretch affects seasonal contrasts and long-term ice growth.<\/p>\n
In the results, a long cycle tied mostly to Venus and Jupiter stayed in place even when Mars was taken out. But two other prominent cycles, one around 100,000 years and another around 2.3 million years, disappeared entirely without Mars in the model.<\/p>\n
Why orbit changes can reshape climate<\/p>\n
These orbital cycles do not flip the weather forecast next week. Instead, they nudge how much summer sunlight reaches high latitudes, which can decide whether winter snow melts away or piles up into ice sheets over time.<\/p>\n
That slow build matters because ice sheets change sea level, winds, and ocean circulation, and they can rewrite coastlines that people would later live on. In other words, the \u201cbeat\u201d of ice ages can ripple into the planet you inherit, even if it takes thousands of generations to notice.<\/p>\n
![\"Diagram](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mars-earth-orbits-ice-age-climate-cycles.jpg\" "\\"The")
A simple orbit diagram shows Mars and Earth circling the Sun, reflecting the gravitational link that researchers say may help shape Earth\u2019s ice age rhythms.<\/p>\n
A clue for worlds beyond our solar system<\/p>\n
The researchers also tested what happens if Mars were heavier. In those runs, the climate-related cycles became shorter and stronger, and Mars also appeared to influence how quickly Earth\u2019s tilt changes over time.<\/p>\n
That has a bigger takeaway for exoplanets, planets around other stars. Kane argues that a small outer neighbor could help shape whether an Earth-like world stays climatically steady enough for life to persist. Sean Raymond of the University of Bordeaux has also emphasized that scientists need to understand the full \u201corbital architecture\u201d of exoplanet systems to make sense of possible climate swings.<\/p>\n