INDIA: A group of Indian scientists have found the first evidence of the existence of lone waves around Mars.
These discrete electric field fluctuations in the Martian magnetosphere are known as solitary waves, control particle energization, plasma loss, and transport through wave-particle interactions.
Lone waves on Mars
The Langmuir Probe and Waves instrument on NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft provided high-resolution electric field data.
MAVEN’s information allowed researchers from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) to identify and explain the solitary waves in the Martian magnetosphere.
The plasma environments of Earth and planetary space support a vast variety of electromagnetic and electrostatic waves.
These plasma waves are intensively studied using observations, theory, and simulations to further our comprehension of the ambient plasma conditions and fundamental physical processes occurring in those locations.
Researchers claim that the Earth is like a giant magnet that protects humans from the solar wind, which is the Sun’s continuous release of fast-moving charged particles. However, things are different on the Red Planet.
Mars’ absence of an innate magnetic field, which would act as a flow barrier, allows the high-velocity solar wind to interact directly with the atmosphere of the Red Planet.
In a statement, the Ministry of Science and Technology added, “Specialized electric field fluctuations with reliable amplitude-phase correlations are known as bipolar or monopolar solitary waves.”
“Their size and shape are less affected by the propagation process. These pulses are primarily observed in the morning and afternoon-dusk sectors of Mars at altitudes of 1000-3500 km,” the statement further read.
Since it is known that these waves are in charge of plasma energization and its transportation in the Earth’s magnetosphere, the team is further researching their function in particle dynamics in the Martian magnetosphere and whether they have any influence on the loss of atmospheric ions on Mars.
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