Scientists have long suspected the solar wind of stripping the Martian atmosphere into space, a process that may have turned Mars from a blue world early in its history into the red planet that we see today. In 2014, NASA's MAVEN orbiter arrived at Mars and began studying its upper atmosphere. Now, MAVEN has returned the first-ever measurements of solar wind erosion at Mars, observing ions in the upper atmosphere as they pick up energy from the electric field of the solar wind and escape to space.
Learn more at:
Follow NASA's Mars Exploration Program on social media #JourneyToMars
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at:
Animations of the Mars fleet are available for download at:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio created this video from the following data:
MAVEN oxygen ion results:
MAVEN simulated ion escape (Monte Carlo Pickup Ion Transport (MCPIT) pdf):
Mars surface texture:
Mars topography:
Star field:
Spacecraft and planetary ephemerides:
BATS-R-US solar wind simulation at Mars:
Learn more at:
Follow NASA's Mars Exploration Program on social media #JourneyToMars
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at:
Animations of the Mars fleet are available for download at:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio created this video from the following data:
MAVEN oxygen ion results:
MAVEN simulated ion escape (Monte Carlo Pickup Ion Transport (MCPIT) pdf):
Mars surface texture:
Mars topography:
Star field:
Spacecraft and planetary ephemerides:
BATS-R-US solar wind simulation at Mars:
- Category
- Documentary
- Tags
- NASA
Be the first to comment