Mars ionopause during solar minimum: A lesson from Venus

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA095iA06p08265· OSTI ID:5378729

Mahajan, K K; Mayr, H G ^[1]

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1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (USA)

The ion densities measured by the Viking landers (Hanson et al., 1977) do not show an abrupt falloff with height, giving the false impression that Mars has no ionopause. On the basis of knowledge gained from the solar wind interaction at Venus during solar minimum, they demonstrate that the observed O{sub 2}{sup +} profile above about 160 km on Mars is a distributed photodynamical ionosphere and can produce an ionopause at around 325 km, similar to that observed on Venus during solar minimum. They conclude that the solar wind interacts directly with the Mars ionosphere, suggesting that the planet does not have an intrinsic magnetic field of any consequence.

• OSTI ID: 5378729
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 95:A6; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640107* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Planetary Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DIMENSIONS
EVALUATION
HEIGHT
INTERACTIONS
ION DENSITY
IONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MARS PLANET
OXYGEN IONS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLANETS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR WIND
SPACE VEHICLES
VEHICLES
VENUS PLANET
VIKING SPACE PROBES