This coronal mass ejection, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, erupted on the Sun on August 31, 2012, traveling over 900 miles per second and sending radiation deep into space. Earth’s magnetic field shields it from radiation produced by solar events like this one, while Mars lacks that kind of shielding. Credit: NASA/SDO
Learn how NASA’s MAVEN and the agency’s Curiosity rover will study solar flares and radiation at Mars during solar maximum – a period when the Sun is at peak activity. Credit: NASA/Earth’s magnetic field largely shields our home planet from the effects of these storms. But Mars lost its global magnetic field long ago, leaving the Red Planet more vulnerable to the Sun’s energetic particles.
When a solar event occurs, scientists look both at the quantity of solar particles and how energetic they are. When MAVEN detects a big solar flare, the orbiter’s team lets the Curiosity team know so they can watch for changes in RAD’s data. The two missions can even assemble a time series measuring changes down to the half-second as particles arrive at the Martian atmosphere, interact with it, and eventually strike the surface.
Mars Before and After Dust Storm: Side-by-side movies shows how the 2018 global dust storm enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This global dust storm caused NASA’s Opportunity rover to lose contact with Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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