An incredible situation occurred on Mars, since large solar storms were recorded, this after the sun entered a period of maximum activity.
As a result of this, NASA’s Mars rovers and orbiters They have been able to see up close solar flares and coronal mass ejections that have reached the red planet.
Thanks to this scenario, NASA scientists have been able to study a series of events in space that could not before be studied. For example, it has been possible to know how much radiation astronauts could be exposed to on Mars.
According to reports from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, the mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, The largest solar flare that could be witnessed was on May 20, where it became class X12, that is, the strongest of its type. In that event, X-rays were sent, which traveled at the speed of light and gamma rays that impacted the planet, in addition, there was a coronal mass ejection that launched charged particles.
Thus, If the astronauts had met on NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, They had received a radiation dose of 8,100 micrograys, that is, 30 chest x-rays.
Although these charges would not be fatalthis record is the largest measured by Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) since it landed 12 years ago.
“The ol cliffsLava tubes would provide additional protection to an astronaut against such an event. “In Mars orbit or deep space, the dose rate would be significantly higher,” RAD principal investigator Don Hassler said in a statement.
The great solar activity
In this sense, Hassler pointed out that ““I wouldn’t be surprised if this active region of the Sun continues to erupt, which would mean even more solar storms on both Earth and Mars in the coming weeks.”
In fact, the great solar activity generated other effects, como bright auroras that were captured by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter.
“There have been several solar events in recent weeks, so we were seeing wave after wave of particles hitting Mars,” said MAVEN space weather lead Christina Lee, who also noted that “This was the largest solar-powered particle event MAVEN has ever seen.”
