Solar winds stripped Mars’ atmosphere

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has observed the direct impact of a solar storm on Mars’ atmosphere, showing that solar particles energised gases in the upper atmosphere, causing them to blast into space – stripping the planet of its once-thick, water-rich atmosphere

MAVEN SPACECRAFT

Launch weight:

2,550kg

Articulated payload

platform

High-gain antenna:

Diameter 2.1m

“Gull-wing”

solar array

LPW*

boom

Mars at

launch

Magnetometer boom

*Langmuir

Probe and

Waves

Launch

Nov 2013

INSTRUMENTS

Particles and Fields Package

Six sensors for studying solar wind,

Martian ionosphere and magnetic field

Sun

Remote Sensing Package

Earth

orbit

Measures global characteristics of

upper atmosphere and ionosphere

Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer

Measures composition of upper

atmosphere

MAVEN orbit

Arrival Sep 2014

EARLY MARS

MARS ATMOSPHERE LOSS

Magnetic field

Atmosphere

Solar wind

Solar wind

Warmer planetary core generates

stronger magnetic field, protecting

atmosphere from solar wind

Decline of magnetic field due to core

cooling. Atmosphere slowly stripped

away by solar wind

Source: NASA

Picture: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre