Related papers: Mars as a comet: Solar wind interaction on a large…
In the pursuit of lunar exploration and the investigation of water presence on the lunar surface, a comprehensive understanding of plasma-surface interactions is crucial since the regolith's space weathering can create H$_2$O. However, the…
We present two-dimensional hydrodynamic models of thermally driven winds from highly irradiated, close-in extra-solar planets. We adopt a very simple treatment of the radiative heating processes at the base of the wind, and instead focus on…
The Martian upper atmosphere is known to vary diurnally and seasonally due to changing amounts of solar radiation. However, in the upper thermosphere and exosphere, the neutrals are also subject to ion precipitation. This can increase the…
Pickup ions are created when interstellar neutral atoms resonantly exchange charge with the solar wind (SW) ions, especially in the supersonic part of the wind, where they carry most of the plasma pressure. Here we present numerical…
The solar atmosphere is composed of many species which are populated at different ionization and excitation levels. The upper chromosphere, transition region, and corona are nearly collisionless. Consequently, slippage between, for…
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, possesses a weak intrinsic magnetic field and has only a very tenuous atmosphere (exosphere). These three conditions result in a direct coupling between the plasma emitted from the Sun (namely the…
Stars interact with their close-in planets through radiation, gravitation, and magnetic fields. We investigate the energy input to a planetary atmosphere by reconnection between stellar and planetary magnetic fields and compare it to the…
We study the interactions between stellar wind and the extended hydrogen-dominated upper atmospheres of planets and the resulting escape of planetary pick-up ions from the 5 "super-Earths" in the compact Kepler-11 system and compare the…
Using magnetic field and plasma data acquired during "Phobos-2" mission in regions which have not been explored before, we study the solar wind interaction with Phobos. The draping magnetic field of the solar wind around Phobos appears at…
As we continue to discover terrestrial exoplanets, many with orbital and planetary characteristics drastically different from anything encountered in our solar system, we are likely to encounter 'exotic' atmospheric transport processes. As…
Wind-blown sand, or 'saltation,' creates sand dunes, erodes geological features, and could be a significant source of dust aerosols on Mars. Moreover, the electrification of sand and dust in saltation, dust storms, and dust devils could…
Context. In binary star systems, the winds from the two components impact each other, leading to strong shocks and regions of enhanced density and temperature. Potentially habitable circumbinary planets must continually be exposed to these…
The outer heliosphere is a dynamic region shaped largely by the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium. While interplanetary magnetic field and plasma observations by the Voyager spacecraft have significantly…
Mars lacks a global magnetic field, and instead possesses small-scale crustal magnetic fields, making its magnetic environment fundamentally different from intrinsic magnetospheres like those of Earth or Saturn. Here we report the discovery…
Generating renewable energy on Mars is technologically challenging. Firstly, because compared to Earth, key energy resources such as solar and wind are weak as a result of very low atmospheric pressure and low solar irradiation. Secondly,…
Almost all the planets of our solar system have moons. Each planetary system has however unique characteristics. The Martian system has not one single big moon like the Earth, not tens of moons of various sizes like for the giant planets,…
The physical processes in the solar corona that shape the solar wind remain an active research topic. Modeling efforts have shown that energy and plasma exchanges near the transition region plays a crucial role in modulating solar wind…
The physical origins of the observed interannual variability of weather and climate on Mars are poorly understood. In this paper we introduce a deterministic physical mechanism that may account for much of the variability of the circulation…
Measurements conducted with the ASPERA-4 instrument and the magnetometer of the Venus Express spacecraft show that the dynamic pressure of planetary O+ ion fluxes measured in the Venus wake can be significantly larger than the local…
The planet Mercury possesses a small but highly dynamic magnetosphere in which the role and dynamics of electrons are still largely unknown. We aim at modeling the global dynamics of solar wind electrons impinging on Mercury's…