MADRID, April 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
NASA will take advantage of the imminent maximum of solar activity to study how solar flares could affect robots and future astronauts on the Red Planet.
At the peak of its 11-year cycle, the Sun is especially prone to extreme events in a variety of forms, including solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which spew radiation into the depths of space. When a series of these solar events erupt, it is called a solar storm.
This peak period will be observed this year from Mars by the MAVEN orbiter (Mars Atmospheric and Volatiles EvolutioN) and the Curiosity rover from NASA.
Earth’s magnetic field largely protects our planet from the effects of these storms. But Mars lost its global magnetic field long ago, leaving the Red Planet more vulnerable to the sun’s energetic particles. Researchers hope the current solar maximum will give them a chance to find out. Before sending humans there, space agencies must determine, among many other details, what type of radiation protection astronauts would need.
“For humans and those active on the Martian surface, we don’t have a solid idea of what the effect of radiation is during solar activity,” he said. it’s a statement Shannon Curry of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
MAVEN observes radiation, solar particles and more from high on Mars. The planet’s thin atmosphere can affect the intensity of the particles by the time they reach the surface, which is where NASA’s Curiosity rover comes into play. Data from Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD, has helped scientists understand how radiation breaks down carbon-based molecules. on the surface, a process that could affect whether signs of ancient microbial life are preserved there. The instrument has also given NASA an idea of how much radiation protection astronauts could expect. using caves, lava tubes or cliffs as protection.
When a solar event occurs, scientists observe both the number of solar particles and their energy.
“You can have a million particles with low energy or 10 particles with extremely high energy“said RAD principal investigator Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute office in Boulder, Colorado. “While MAVEN instruments are more sensitive to lower-energy ones, RAD is the only instrument capable of detecting high-energy ones. energy that passes through the atmosphere to the surface, where the astronauts would be.
When MAVEN detects a large solar flare, the orbiter team informs the Curiosity team so they can observe changes in the RAD data. The two missions can even assemble a time series that measures changes of up to half a second as particles reach the Martian atmosphere, They interact with it and finally hit the surface.
The MAVEN mission also leads an early warning system that lets other Mars spacecraft teams know when radiation levels start to rise. The advisory allows missions to shut down instruments that could be vulnerable to solar flares, which can interfere with electronics and radio communications.
Beyond helping keep astronauts and spacecraft safe, studying solar maximum could also help understand why Mars went from a warm, humid Earth-like world billions of years ago to the icy desert that is. today.
The planet is at a point in its orbit where it is closest to the sun, which warms the atmosphere. That can cause billowing dust storms to blanket the surface. Sometimes storms merge and become global.
THE DISAPPEARING WATER
While there is little water left on Mars (mainly ice below the surface and at the poles), some still circulates as vapor in the atmosphere. Scientists wonder if global dust storms help expel this water vapor, lifting it high above the planet, where the atmosphere is stripped away during solar storms. One theory is that this process, repeated enough times over eons, could explain how Mars went from having lakes and rivers to having virtually no water today.
If a global dust storm occurred at the same time as a solar storm, it would provide an opportunity to test that theory. Scientists are especially excited because this particular solar maximum occurs at the beginning of the dustiest season on Mars, but they also know that a global dust storm is a rare occurrence.
