Exploratour - The Atmosphere of Mars

This image illustrates one way in which the magnetometer instrument studies the planet.
Click on image for full size
Image from: NASA/JPL

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Just to show you that the ionosphere is an important layer of the atmosphere, the ionosphere of Mars was used to help put the brakes on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft and place it into a circular orbit. When it flew through the ionosphere of Mars, it measured the amount of electrons it found there, as shown in this image by the squiggly line.

The Martian ionosphere is drawn into the picture as the shaded region circling the planet. (It is not to scale). Successful aerobraking depends upons the correctness of scientists' understanding of the heating and cooling of this layer of the atmosphere.



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