NASA missions detect massive aurora and radiation spike on Mars

Between September 12 and 13, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft observed the Martian atmosphere as a magnificent ultraviolet aurora 25 times brighter than any seen by the probe since entering Mars' orbit in 2014 illuminated the planet.

The September 11 solar storm, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), that prompted the aurora was so powerful that it was detected on Earth, despite the fact that our planet was on the opposite side of the Sun during the event.

A CME occurs when magnetic fields on the Sun explosively realign, throwing a colossal cloud of magnetized particles, also known as plasma, into space. This mass of plasma travels at millions of miles per hour and, upon colliding with a planet's magnetic field, can trigger a geomagnetic storm, during which particles trapped in a planet's atmosphere are released.

The release of the particles causes a reaction in the atmosphere, which triggers a release of photons that can create a breathtaking aurora. MAVEN observed the Martian aurora in ultraviolet light.

While MAVEN and a number of other spacecraft watched the fireworks from orbit, NASA's Curiosity rover recorded a more sinister aspect of the solar storm from the Red Planet's surface. As the solar storm struck Mars, the rover's Radiation Assessment Director (RAD) tracked the amount of radiation reaching its surface.

Solar storms are known to significantly heighten the amount of radiation penetrating the Martian atmosphere, and at the peak of the storm the RAD instrument detected surface radiation levels over double the intensity of any that it had ever detected since touching down on the Martian surface in 2012.

Had explorers been present on the planet at the time of such a storm, they would have been advised to seek shelter.

"If you were outdoors on a Mars walk and learned that an event like this was imminent, you would definitely want to take shelter, just as you would if you were on a space walk outside the International Space Station," says RAD Principal Investigator Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute's Boulder, Colorado, office. "To protect our astronauts on Mars in the future, we need to continue to provide this type of space weather monitoring there."

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