Mars Wind Currents Reveal a Surprising Feature

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  • 
    ID: 13625 Produced Video

    First Map of Mars Electric Currents

    May 25th, 2020
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    MAVEN data have enabled the first map of the electric current systems (blue and red arrows) that shape the induced magnetic field surrounding Mars.Credit: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVSUniversal Production Music: “A Lucid Dream” and “Shimmer Oscillations” by James Joshua OttoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || 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. ||

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  • 
    ID: 4702 Infographic

    MAVEN Aerobraking to Achieve Science and Relay Orbit

    Feb. 11th, 2019
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Aerobraking plan for MAVEN. (left) Current MAVEN orbit around Mars — 6200-km highest altitude, and an orbit period of ~4.5 hours. (center) Aerobraking process — MAVEN performs a series of “deep dip” orbits approaching to within ~125 km of Mars at lowest altitude, causing drag from the atmosphere slow down the spacecraft. Over roughly three-hundred and sixty orbits spanning about two months, this slowing reduces the spacecraft’s highest altitude to ~4500 km and its orbit period to ~3.5 hours. (right) Post-aerobraking orbit, with reduced altitude and shorter orbit period. ||

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  • 
    ID: 20222 Animation

    MAVEN Deep Dip

    Sept. 2nd, 2015
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    MAVEN Deep Dip Animation || NASA's MAVEN orbiter is the first spacecraft at Mars specifically designed to study the planet's upper atmosphere. Its goal is to determine how Mars lost its thick, early atmosphere to space, and in turn, its once hospitable climate. MAVEN's elliptical orbit normally takes it from 6,200 km above Mars at its furthest point to about 150 km at its closest point, just above the upper atmosphere. However, during MAVEN's periodic "deep dip" campaigns, the spacecraft's orbit is lowered to only 125 km at closest approach, dipping into the upper atmosphere to study it in situ.This animation depicts MAVEN maneuvering from its normal science orbit to the deep dip orbit and back. The animation is available for download in broadcast-quality HD and can be looped. ||

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    ID: 4755 Visualization

    Mars Upper Level Winds Observed by MAVEN - Visualizations

    Dec. 12th, 2019
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    MAVEN observes upper level Martian winds over the course of about two years. || MAVEN is the first spacecraft specifically designed to study the Mars upper atmosphere, in order to better understand the evolution of its climate. These visualizations show MAVEN measuring the Martian upper level wind direction and magnitude over a series of thirty-three campaigns. In order for MAVEN to make these in-situ measurements, the spacecraft must be close to the upper atmosphere. The closest point of MAVEN's orbit to Mars (periapsis) dips into the tenuous upper reaches of the Martian thermosphere. The orbit also precesses over time to acquire measurements from different regions on the planet.Now, scientists have used MAVEN data to map high-altitude wind currents on Mars for the first time. The data show that the Martian upper atmosphere is relatively independent of the daily rotation of Mars. On a day-to-day basis, high-altitude wind currents have a relatively fixed location with respect to the Sun, while Mars rotates underneath. Over the course of the Martian year, however, the currents follow the Sun north to south with the seasons.MAVEN has also found that higher-elevation regions, such as the Tharsis plateau, cause small gravity waves that perturb the upper level winds and make them alter course. This means that certain topographic features on the Martian surface are detectable by MAVEN high above, as it skims the edge of space. ||

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  • 
    ID: 20302 Animation

    Mars Wind Currents Reveal a Surprising Feature - Animations

    Dec. 12th, 2019
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    By measuring windspeed and direction in the Mars upper atmosphere, MAVEN has discovered that high-altitude wind currents are being disturbed by terrain features far below. || MAVEN is the first spacecraft specifically designed to study the Mars upper atmosphere, in order to better understand the evolution of its climate. Now, scientists have analyzed several years of data from MAVEN’s NGIMS instrument and produced the first map of wind currents in the Martian thermosphere (a layer of the upper atmosphere). This map led to an unexpected and surprising discovery – disturbances in high-altitude wind currents on Mars are caused by terrain features such as mountains and valleys on the planet’s surface. ||

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