Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.


Science 13 March 1998:
Vol. 279. no. 5357, pp. 1676 - 1680
DOI: 10.1126/science.279.5357.1676

Reports

Magnetic Field and Plasma Observations at Mars: Initial Results of the Mars Global Surveyor Mission

M. H. Acuña, J. E. P. Connerney, P. Wasilewski, R. P. Lin, K. A. Anderson, C. W. Carlson, J. McFadden, D. W. Curtis, D. Mitchell, H. Reme, C. Mazelle, J. A. Sauvaud, C. d'Uston, A. Cros, J. L. Medale, S. J. Bauer, P. Cloutier, M. Mayhew, D. Winterhalter, N. F. Ness

The magnetometer and electron reflectometer investigation (MAG/ER) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has obtained magnetic field and plasma observations throughout the near-Mars environment, from beyond the influence of Mars to just above the surface (at an altitude of ~100 kilometers). The solar wind interaction with Mars is in many ways similar to that at Venus and at an active comet, that is, primarily an ionospheric-atmospheric interaction. No significant planetary magnetic field of global scale has been detected to date (<2 × 1021 Gauss-cubic centimeter), but here the discovery of multiple magnetic anomalies of small spatial scale in the crust of Mars is reported.

M. H. Acuña, J. E. P. Connerney, P. Wasilewski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
R. P. Lin, Space Sciences Laboratory and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
K. A. Anderson, C. W. Carlson, J. McFadden, D. W. Curtis, D. Mitchell, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
H. Reme, C. Mazelle, J. A. Sauvaud, C. d'Uston, A. Cros, J. L. Medale, Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 31209 Toulouse Cedex, France.
S. J. Bauer, University of Graz and Space Research Institute, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
P. Cloutier, Department of Space Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
M. Mayhew, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230, USA.
D. Winterhalter, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
N. F. Ness, Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.


Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Radar Soundings of the Ionosphere of Mars.
D. A. Gurnett, D. L. Kirchner, R. L. Huff, D. D. Morgan, A. M. Persoon, T. F. Averkamp, F. Duru, E. Nielsen, A. Safaeinili, J. J. Plaut, et al. (2005)
Science 310, 1929-1933
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Lunar Surface Magnetic Fields and Their Interaction with the Solar Wind: Results from Lunar Prospector.
R. P. Lin, D. L. Mitchell, D. W. Curtis, K. A. Anderson, C. W. Carlson, J. McFadden, M. H. Acuña, L. L. Hood, and A. Binder (1998)
Science 281, 1480-1484
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Detection of Atomic Deuterium in the Upper Atmosphere of Mars.
V. A. Krasnopolsky, M. J. Mumma, and G. R. Gladstone (1998)
Science 280, 1576-1580
   Abstract »    Full Text »



To Advertise     Find Products


Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)