Orbital Mars station MAVEN: what is the device currently studying?

Orbital station MAVEN took its position in the orbit of the Red Planet recently. The flight of the station to Mars and the exit to orbit were widely reported in various media, but the work of the device was not specifically covered. And after MAVEN entered the calculated orbit, the media completely forgot about this station.

What is the device doing now, what are its goals and objectives? The main goal is to study the atmosphere of Mars, the composition, dynamics, properties. These data will help scientists understand how the atmosphere of Mars has changed in the past, and what is its future.
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The data sent by the device to Earth complements the data that Curiosity sends. While the rover, studying rocks, can determine the time when certain changes occurred in the atmosphere, MAVEN helps to find out what processes led to such changes.

Currently, MAVEN is in the Mars ionosphere, analyzing the properties of charged particles in the outer layer of the atmosphere of the Red Planet. The data sent by the space station to earth has already helped scientists understand that charged particles are not neutralized by the atmosphere. Often streams of particles penetrate the atmosphere, reaching the lower layers.

High-energy particles, the "solar wind", penetrating into the lower layers of the atmosphere of Mars, interact with the particles of the atmosphere, contributing to the fact that these particles go beyond Mars, into space. The information has already been confirmed by the Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA) tool.

A total of eight scientific instruments on MAVEN, and all of them are loaded with work. SWIA and STATIC allow you to determine the characteristics of a substance penetrating into the atmosphere of Mars, as well as determine which elements leave the atmosphere of Mars. STATIC determines how much matter leaves the planet. Most likely, it is the “solar wind” streams that are the main (though not the only) reason for Mars’s loss of its atmosphere.

Another reason is the absence of a magnetic field from Mars. Therefore, high-energy particles are much easier to penetrate into the atmosphere of the planet - there are practically no obstacles. Well, and smaller than that of Earth, the size of Mars contributes to the departure of the atmosphere of the planet into space. The size of the Red Planet is another one of the important factors of such significant losses.

MAVEN continues to study the process of changing the atmosphere of Mars in order to predict further dynamics.