A recent solar eruption sent a powerful blast of charged particles and radiation toward Mars, giving scientists a rare glimpse of how these events unfold on planets other than Earth.
NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the aftermath of a solar storm on the surface of Mars, using its navigation cameras to record particles from the Sun raining down on the Red Planet. The Mars robot also measured the largest radiation dose during its 12-year mission, providing further insight into how much future astronauts will have to endure on the surface of Mars. NASA. At the same time, the space agency’s MAVEN orbiter observed aurorae on the far side of Mars, mirroring recent auroral events on Earth.
Over the past month, the The sun has been emitting a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have traveled all the way to Mars. On May 20, NASA’s Solar Orbiter recorded a solar flare that was later classified as an X12 (solar flares start at the B class, which is the weakest, all the way up to the strongest, the X class). The massive solar flare sent X-rays and gamma rays toward the Red Planet, which was traveling at the speed of light, as well as charged particles launched by a subsequent CME.
The Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center tracked the particles, which arrived on Mars within tens of minutes and appeared as black-and-white streaks and dots in Curiosity’s view of the Martian landscape.
“Recently, my routine dust monitoring coincided with a major solar event hitting the Red Planet, and the charged particles hitting my camera caused distortions,” the Curiosity rover says. wrote on X.
The rover’s Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) was used to measure the amount of radiation reaching Mars, detecting the largest wave yet. For an astronaut standing on the surface of Mars, he would have received a radiation dose of 8,100 microgray, or the equivalent of 30 chest X-rays, according to NASA.
This data is especially important as NASA aims to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s. “Cliffs or lava tubes would provide an astronaut with additional protection against such an event,” RAD principal investigator Don Hassler said in a statement. “In orbit around Mars or in deep space, the dose rate would be significantly higher.”
The sun goes through an 11 year cycle of fluctuating activity and we are currently getting to the point of the solar maximum of cycle 25. As a result, the Sun shows an increase in the number of sunspots, solar flares and CMEs. The earth has gone through its own problems solar storm between May 10 and 12which led to disruptions in the electricity grid and radio interference, among other technologies and infrastructure. It also resulted in beautifully colorful auroras in the night sky over much of the world.
During the most recent solar storm, Mars saw its own series of auroras appear in the sky above the Red Planet. NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter sensed the glowing lights above the planet using its Solar Energetic Particle instrument.
“This was the largest solar energetic particle event MAVEN has ever seen,” Christina Lee, head of space weather at MAVEN, said in a statement. “There have been several solar events in recent weeks, so we saw wave after wave of particles hitting Mars.”
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