Mars Express Discovers Aurora on Mars

The European Space Agency's Mars Explorer has detected the presence of
aurorae on the planet Mars that are unique in the solar system. The observation was made by Mars Express' SPICAM(Spectrosocpy for the Investigation and Characteristics of the Atmosphere on Mars.


www.physorg.com...

Wow! is all I have to say. It makes you really glad that the Eurpoeans decided to begin their own space exploration agency. Mars Express has made numerous exciting observations of Mars over the last several months
and taken some digital high rez photos that were astounding, including the discovery of a frozen lake at Mars' equator.

I look forward to hearing about new and even more thrilling discoveries
by Mars Express in the coming months. What are your thoughts and comments?

[edit on 6/9/2005 by lightseeker]

Good find
I am wondering if I am under a mistaken assumption that the aurora were created by solar radiation impacting the ionosphere. Since the ionosphere needs a magnetic field to hold it, and mars does not have a (significant) magnetic field).
I wounder how this occured.

I rermember reading in an earlier piece that Mars Global Explorer had detected areas of magnetic flux, the idea being that while Mars does not have a strong magnetic field, it did have one in the past and that some magnetic anomolies still exist . I guess that's why the scientists are so stoked; all of the known planets with Aurorae have very strong magnetic fields and MArs doesn't. It's a mystery!

Seeker

Thinking of the Aurora on Mars and the scientific thought of atmosphere recovery for this planet, would not the magnetic field need to be increased in order to maintain a reoccurring atmospheric condition that would sustain?