The Mars upper atmosphere is important for understanding the planet’s climate evolution as well as serving as a laboratory for understanding processes in planetary atmospheres throughout the Universe. Over the past 5 years, the ESA Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter made contemporaneous measurements of the Mars upper atmosphere. When taken together, these missions can provide the most complete understanding of the Mars upper atmosphere ever realized. This study will be the first concerted attempt to combine the MAVEN and TGO observations and interpreting them on a global scale. The two goals of this proposed study are:
- To understand the structure and variability in the Mars upper atmosphere at a global-scale revealed in the MAVEN and TGO composite data
- To compile the most comprehensive observational record of the neutral density and composition of the Mars upper atmosphere using MAVEN and TGO
These goals will be achieved by:
- Comparing contemporaneous/simultaneous solar occultations measured by MAVEN/EUVM and TGO
- Comparing composition and minor species measurements from MAVEN/NGIMS and TGO from the homopause to the exobase
- Generating a composite dataset of atmospheric density and composition from the mesopause to the exobase
- Analyzing the composite dataset’s variations with latitude, local time and solar activity with the aid of general circulation models
Original proposal submitted to ISSI: issi_proposal_mars_atm_2023