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Mars and Venus do not have a global magnetic field and as a result solar wind interacts directly with their ionospheres and upper atmospheres. Neutral atoms ionized by solar UV, charge exchange and electron impact, are extracted and scavenged by solar wind providing a significant loss of planetary volatiles. There are different channels and routes through which the ionized planetary matter escapes from the planets. Processes of ion energization driven by direct solar wind forcing and their escape are intimately related. Forces responsible for ion energization in different channels are different and, correspondingly, the effectiveness of escape is also different. Classification of the energization processes and escape channels on Mars and Venus and also their variability with solar wind parameters is the main topic of our review. We will distinguish between classical pickup and 'massloaded' pickup processes, energization in boundary layer and plasma sheet, polar winds on unmagnetized planets with magnetized ionospheres and enhanced escape flows from localized auroral regions in the regions filled by strong crustal magnetic fields.

Abstract. The interaction of the solar wind with the Martian atmosphere and ionosphere is investigated by using threedimensional, global and multi-species hybrid simulations. In the present work we focus on the influence of the solar EUV flux on the Martian plasma environment by comparing simulations done for conditions representative of the extrema of the solar cycle. The dynamics of four ionic species (H + , He ++ , O + , O + 2 ), originating either from the solar wind or from the planetary plasma, is treated fully kinetically in the simulation model in order to characterize the distribution of each component of the plasma, both at solar maximum and at solar minimum. The solar EUV flux controls the ionization frequencies of the exospheric species, atomic hydrogen and oxygen, as well as the density, the temperature, and thus the extension of the exosphere. Ionization by photons and by electron impacts, and the main charge exchange reactions are self-consistently included in the simulation model. Simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the observations made by Phobos-2 and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft: 1) the interaction creates a cavity, void of solar wind ions (H + , He ++ ), which depends weakly upon the phase of the solar cycle, 2) the motional electric field of the solar wind flow creates strong asymmetries in the Martian environment, 3) the spatial distribution of the different components of the planetary plasma depends strongly upon the phase of the solar cycle. The fluxes of the escaping planetary ions are computed from the simulated data and results for solar maximum are compared with estimates based on the measurements made by experiments ASPERA and TAUS on board Phobos-2.

A total of about of 400 orbits during the first year of the ASPERA-3 operation onboard the Mars Express spacecraft were analyzed to obtain a statistical pattern of the main plasma domains in the Martian space environment. The environment is controlled by the direct interaction between the solar wind and the planetary exosphere/ionosphere which results in the formation of the magnetospheric cavity. Ionospheric plasma was traced by the characteristic "spectral lines" of photoelectrons that make it possible to detect an ionospheric component even far from the planet. Plasma of solar wind and planetary origin was distinguished by the ion mass spectrometry. Several different regions, namely, boundary layer/mantle, plasma sheet, region with ionospheric photoelectrons, ray-like structures near the wake boundary were identified. Upstream parameters like solar wind ram pressure and the direction of the interplanetary electric field were inferred as proxy from the Mars Global Surveyor magnetic field data at a reference point of the magnetic pile up region in the northern dayside hemisphere. It is shown that morphology and dynamics of the main plasma domains and their boundaries are governed by these factors as well as by local crustal magnetizations which add complexity and variability to the plasma and magnetic field environment.

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