Planets and Moons ID: 13625

First Map of Mars Electric Currents

Released on May 25, 2020

Five years after NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars, data from the mission has led to the creation of a map of electric current systems in the Martian atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a protective global magnetic field to shield its upper atmosphere from the solar wind. Instead, the solar wind crashes into the upper atmosphere and its magnetic field lines drape around the planet. This creates an induced magnetosphere that tugs on charged particles in the Mars upper atmosphere, generating electric currents. Now, MAVEN’s detailed measurements of the magnetic environment surrounding Mars have revealed the shape of these electric currents for the first time.

Read the science paper in Nature Astronomy.

In this data visualization, the yellow arrow at upper left shows the direction of the solar wind at Mars, while cyan lines depict the solar wind magnetic field observed by MAVEN. Blue and red arrows indicate the direction of electric currents in the Mars upper atmosphere, which were derived from several years of MAVEN data. These currents provide structure for the magnetic environment surrounding Mars, including the solar wind bow shock (gray outer paraboloid) and the Mars induced magnetosphere (green inner paraboloid).

Credit: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVS

Source Material

For More Information

NASA.gov

University of Colorado Boulder

Credits

Producer:
Dan Gallagher (USRA)

Lead Data Visualizer:
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Data Visualizers:
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)

Videographer:
John Caldwell (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)

Editor:
Dan Gallagher (USRA)

Lead Scientist:
Robin Ramstad (University of Colorado Boulder)

Scientist:
David Brain (University of Colorado Boulder)

Science Writer:
William Steigerwald (NASA/GSFC)

Animators:
Walt Feimer (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Jonathan North (USRA)
Chris Smith (USRA)
John Blackwell (LPI)

Support:
Tom Mason (LASP)
Bruce Jakosky (LASP)

Technical Support:
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVS

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13625

Mission:
MAVEN: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Keywords:
SVS >> Climate
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Magnetic Fields
SVS >> Magnetosphere
SVS >> Mars
SVS >> Solar Wind
GCMD >> Location >> Bow Shock
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> MAVEN
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons
SVS >> Mars Atmosphere
SVS >> Electric Field

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0