Tag Archive for 'MAVEN'

The first visible-light image of green aurora on Mars (left), taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover. On the right is a comparison image of the night sky of Mars without aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos. The moonlit Martian night sky, lit up mostly by Mars’ nearer and larger moon Phobos (outside the frame) has a reddish-brown hue due to the dust in the atmosphere, so when green auroral light is added, the sky takes on a green-yellow tone, as seen in the left image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI.

Perseverance Detects Visible-Wavelength Aurora on Mars

May 19, 2025 by News Staff

Mars hosts various auroral processes despite the planet’s tenuous atmosphere and lack of a global magnetic field. To date, all aurora observations have...

This is a far-ultraviolet Hubble image of Mars near its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on December 19, 2016. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / John T. Clarke, Boston University.

MAVEN and Hubble Observations Shed New Light on Mars’ Water History

Sep 9, 2024 by News Staff

Mars’ water history is fundamental to understanding an evolution of Earth-like planets. Water escapes to space as atoms, and hydrogen (H) atoms escape...

This image of Mars was taken with the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument onboard NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft in July 2022. Image credit: NASA / LASP / CU Boulder.

MAVEN Observes Mars in Ultraviolet Light

Jun 22, 2023 by News Staff

Planetary scientists using the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument onboard NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft...

Patchy proton aurora on Mars. Image credit: EMM / EMUS / UAE Space Agency.

MAVEN and EMM Orbiters Observe ‘Patchy’ Proton Aurora on Mars

Aug 31, 2022 by News Staff

Even though Mars does not have a global magnetic field like the Earth, it still possesses multiple kinds of aurora. One of these is proton aurora, which...

This artist’s concept depicts the dry environment seen at Mars today versus the early Martian environment. Image credit: Simon Fraser University.

Regional Dust Storms Enhance Martian Water Loss to Space: Study

Aug 17, 2021 by News Staff

Individual regional dust events can boost planetary water loss by a factor of five to ten and represent an important driver of atmospheric evolution on...

Hernández-Bernal et al. reveal the daily and seasonal behavior of the AMEC cloud, using new observations from the Visual Monitoring Camera on ESA’s Mars Express, along with data from other Mars orbiters. Image credit: ESA.

Martian Orbiters Observe Extremely Elongated Cloud over Arsia Mons Volcano

Mar 19, 2021 by News Staff

In September and October 2018, ESA’s Mars Express orbiter observed a spectacular water ice cloud — named the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (AMEC)...

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the larger of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, on March 23, 2008. The image was taken from a distance of about 6,800 km (about 4,200 miles). It is presented in color by combining data from the camera’s blue-green, red, and near-infrared channels. The illuminated part of Phobos seen in the image is about 21 km (13 miles) across. The most prominent feature is the large crater Stickney in the lower right. With a diameter of 9 km (5.6 miles), it is the largest feature on Phobos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Phobos May Contain Atmospheric Atoms from Ancient Mars

Feb 3, 2021 by News Staff

Martian atmospheric oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and argon ions have been escaping Mars for billions of years and could be preserved inside the uppermost hundreds...

Global and Regional Dust Storms Cause Mars to Lose Water

Nov 13, 2020 by News Staff

Mars was once a wet planet, but it has lost most of its water through reactions that produce hydrogen. In standard models, molecular hydrogen produced...

This image shows the ultraviolet nightglow in the Martian atmosphere. Green and white false colors represent the intensity of ultraviolet light, with white being the brightest. The nightglow was measured at about 70 km altitude by the Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph instrument on NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. A simulated view of the Mars globe is added digitally for context. The image shows an intense brightening in Mars’ nightside atmosphere. The brightenings occur regularly after sunset on Martian evenings during fall and winter seasons, and fade by midnight. The brightening is caused by increased downwards winds which enhance the chemical reaction creating nitric oxide which causes the glow. Image credit: NASA / MAVEN / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / CU / LASP.

Vast Areas of Mars’ Night Sky Pulse in Ultraviolet

Aug 7, 2020 by News Staff

Using new data from the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) on NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft, scientists have...

Electric currents (blue and red arrows) envelop Mars in a nested, double-loop structure that wraps continuously around the planet from its day side to its night side. These current loops distort the solar wind magnetic field (not pictured), which drapes around Mars to create an induced magnetosphere around the planet. In the process, the currents electrically connect Mars’ upper atmosphere and the induced magnetosphere to the solar wind, transferring electric and magnetic energy generated at the boundary of the induced magnetosphere (faint inner paraboloid) and at the solar wind bow shock (faint outer paraboloid). Image credit: NASA / Goddard / MAVEN / CU Boulder / SVS / Cindy Starr.

Researchers Create Map of Electric Currents in Magnetosphere of Mars

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

Using five years of magnetic field data obtained by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, a team of scientists has created...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Martian Dynamo was Active between 4.5 and 3.7 Billion Years Ago, Study Says

May 5, 2020 by News Staff

A planet’s global magnetic field arises from a so-called dynamo — a flow of molten metal within the planet’s core that produces an electrical...

Graphic illustrating NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft encountering plasma layers at Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / CI lab.

MAVEN Detects Sporadic ‘Layers’ and ‘Rifts’ in Martian Ionosphere

Feb 3, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has detected sporadic ‘layers’ and ‘rifts’ in the ionosphere — the electrically...

Computer-generated visualization of the orbital paths (white dots) taken by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft as it mapped winds (blue lines) in the Martian upper atmosphere; red lines coming from the white dots represent local wind speed and direction, measured by MAVEN’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer instrument. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / MAVEN / SVS / Greg Shirah.

NASA’s MAVEN Orbiter Maps Martian Upper Atmospheric Winds

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, a team of planetary researchers have measured the speed and direction of winds...

On Earth, the Northern and Southern lights occur when the solar wind (electrically charged particles from the Sun) follow our planet’s geomagnetic field lines to the poles and collide with the upper atmosphere. Mars lacks a global magnetic field, so instead the solar wind piles up in front of Mars in a bow shock, which blocks charged particles from reaching the bulk of the atmosphere. However, in a process first observed by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, some solar wind protons can slip past the bow shock by first bonding with electrons from the Martian upper atmosphere to form hydrogen atoms. Because these hydrogen atoms are electrically neutral, they can pass through the bow shock and go on to create an ultraviolet proton aurora on the dayside of Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

‘Proton Aurora’ is Most Common Type of Aurora on Mars, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Proton aurora, a type of Martian aurora first identified in 2016, forms when protons from the solar wind interact with hydrogen in the extended portions...

An artist’s impression of a terraformed Mars. Image credit: Daein Ballard / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Mars Terraforming is Not Possible Using Currently Available Technology, Researchers Say

Jul 31, 2018 by News Staff

On Mars, the atmospheric pressure is around 0.6% of Earth’s. Any liquid water on the surface would very quickly evaporate or freeze. One of the challenges...

Proton Aurora Discovered on Mars

Jul 24, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft has found a new type of Martian aurora that occurs over much of the day side of the...

Artist’s conception of the complex magnetic field environment at Mars. Yellow lines represent magnetic field lines from the Sun carried by the solar wind, blue lines represent Martian surface magnetic fields, white sparks are reconnection activity, and red lines are reconnected magnetic fields that link the surface to space via the Martian magnetotail. Image credit: Anil Rao / University of Colorado / MAVEN / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Mars Has a Twisted Magnetotail, NASA Research Reveals

Oct 20, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research using data from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft, the Red Planet has an invisible magnetic...

Artist’s conception of MAVEN’s Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph (IUVS) observing Martian aurora, which is similar to Earth’s Aurora borealis but has a different origin. Image credit: University of Colorado.

NASA: Recent Solar Storm Sparked Global Aurora on Mars

Oct 2, 2017 by News Staff

A solar event on September 11, 2017 sparked a global aurora on the Red Planet more than 25 times brighter than any previously seen by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars...

This artist’s concept shows MAVEN in orbit around Mars, with a fanciful image of Earth in the background. Image credit: NASA / GSFC.

NASA’s MAVEN Mission Celebrates 1,000 Earth Days in Orbit around Mars

Jun 17, 2017 by News Staff

Today, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission — sent to Mars to explore its upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions...

MAVEN is exploring Mars’ upper atmosphere in detail to understand how Mars changed from a wet planet early in its history to the cold, dry world we see today. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

MAVEN Detects Metal Ions in Martian Atmosphere

Apr 11, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has made the first detection of the continuous presence of iron, magnesium, and sodium...