Mass composition of the escaping plasma at Mars

Carlsson, Erik; Fedorov, A.; Barabash, S.; Budnik, E.; Grigoriev, Alexander; Gunell, H.; Nilsson, Hans; Sauvaud, J. A.; Lundin, R.; Futaana, Yoshifumi; Holmström, Mats; Andersson, H.; Yamauchi, M.; Winningham, J. D.; Frahm, R. A.; Sharber, J. R.; Scherrer, J.; Coates, A. J.; Linder, Dietmar; Kataria, D. O.; Kallio, Esa; Koskinen, H.; Säles, T.; Riihelä, P.; Schmidt, W.; Kozyra, J. U.; Luhmann, J. G.; Roelof, E. C.; Williams, D. J.; Livi, S.; Curtis, C. C.; Hsieh, K. C.; Sandel, B. R.; Grandé, M.; Carter, M.; Thocaven, J. J.; McKenna-Lawler, S.; Orsini, S.; Cerulli-Irelli, R.; Maggi, M.; Würz, Peter; Bochsler, P.; Krupp, N.; Woch, J.; Fränz, M.; Asamura, Kazushi; Dierker, C.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.09.020

Cited by 107 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…The heavy ions have a clear peak in their distribution for anti-sunward flow with only small fluxes in the sunward direction. Considering the long integration time the heavy ions mainly form tailward flowing beams with some deviations in the direction, consistent with previous reports Carlsson et al (2006).…”

Section: Average Distribution Functionssupporting

confidence: 92%

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Ion distributions in the vicinity of Mars: Signatures of heating and acceleration processes

et al. 2012

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More than three years of data from the ASPERA-3 instrument on-board Mars Express has been used to compile average distribution functions of ions in and around the Mars induced magnetosphere. We present samples of average distribution functions, as well as average flux patterns based on the average distribution functions, all suitable for detailed comparison with models of the near-Mars space environment. The average heavy ion distributions close to the planet form thermal populations with a temperature of 3 to 10 eV. The distribution functions in the tail consist of two populations, one cold which is an extension of the low altitude population, and one accelerated population of ionospheric origin ions. All significant fluxes of heavy ions in the tail are tailward. The heavy ions in the magnetosheath form a plume with the flow aligned with the bow shock, and a more radial flow direction than the solar wind origin flow. Summarizing the escape processes, ionospheric ions are heated close to the planet, presumably through wave-particle interaction. These heated populations are accelerated in the tailward direction in a restricted region. Another significant escape path is through the magnetosheath. A part of the ionospheric population is likely accelerated in the radial direction, out into the magnetosheath, although pick up of an oxygen exosphere may also be a viable source for this escape. Increased energy input from the solar wind during CIR events appear to mainly increase the number flux of escaping particles, the average energy of the escaping particles is not strongly affected. Heavy ions on the dayside may precipitate and cause sputtering of the atmosphere, though fluxes are likely lower than 0.4 × 10 23 s −1 .

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Section: Average Distribution Functionssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Nominal positions for protons and alpha particles are always well separated from the heavier ions. The mass resolution of IMA is discussed in more detail in Carlsson et al (2006).…”

Section: Instrument and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion distributions in the vicinity of Mars: Signatures of heating and acceleration processes

et al. 2012

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“…The MEX Ion Mass Analyzer (IMA) provided compositional information on losses, however, those measurements were generally limited by time resolution and by a lower energy cutoff (> 10 eV). Several estimates of total ion loss rates have been made (Lundin et al 1990;Carlsson et al 2006;Barabash et al 2007;Fang et al 2010;Ramstad et al 2013) with significant variations. The composition of escaping plasma measured with MEX IMA indicates comparable outflows of O+ and O 2 +, inferred by model fitting to the to the heavy ion mass peak.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MAVEN SupraThermal and Thermal Ion Compostion (STATIC) Instrument

et al. 2015

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The MAVEN SupraThermal And Thermal Ion Compostion (STATIC) instrument is designed to measure the ion composition and distribution function of the cold Martian ionosphere, the heated suprathermal tail of this plasma in the upper ionosphere, and the pickup ions accelerated by solar wind electric fields. STATIC operates over an energy range of 0.1 eV up to 30 keV, with a base time resolution of 4 seconds. The instrument consists of a toroidal "top hat" electrostatic analyzer with a 360• × 90• field-of-view, combined with a time-of-flight (TOF) velocity analyzer with 22.5• resolution in the detection plane. The TOF combines a −15 kV acceleration voltage with ultra-thin carbon foils to resolve H + , He ++ , He + , O + , O + 2 , and CO + 2 ions. Secondary electrons from carbon foils are detected by microchannel plate detectors and binned into a variety of data products with varying energy, mass, angle, and time resolution. To prevent detector saturation when measuring cold ram ions at periapsis (∼ 10 11 eV/cm 2 s sr eV), while maintaining adequate sensitivity to resolve tenuous pickup ions at apoapsis (∼ 10 3 eV/cm 2 s sr eV), the sensor includes both mechanical and electrostatic attenuators that increase the dynamic range by a factor of 10 3 . This paper describes the instrument hardware, including several innovative improvements over previous TOF sensors, the ground calibrations of the sensor, the data products generated by the experiment, and some early measurements during cruise phase to Mars.

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“…Other observations (e.g. ASPERA data) have allowed estimates for the present atmospheric escape rate of Mars, suggesting a value of about 1 kg/s (see Carlsson et al 2006). This implies an evaporation of the present atmosphere in some 200 Myr at present conditions.…”

Section: Marsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Water, Life, and Planetary Geodynamical Evolution

et al. 2007

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In our search for life on other planets over the past decades, we have come to understand that the solid terrestrial planets provide much more than merely a substrate on which life may develop. Large-scale exchange of heat and volatile species between planetary interiors and hydrospheres/atmospheres, as well as the presence of a magnetic field, are important factors contributing to the habitability of a planet. This chapter reviews these processes, their mutual interactions, and the role life plays in regulating or modulating them.

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Mass composition of the escaping plasma at Mars

Cited by 107 publications

References 20 publications

Ion distributions in the vicinity of Mars: Signatures of heating and acceleration processes

Ion distributions in the vicinity of Mars: Signatures of heating and acceleration processes

MAVEN SupraThermal and Thermal Ion Compostion (STATIC) Instrument

Water, Life, and Planetary Geodynamical Evolution

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