Indian scientists make unique discovery on Mars: All you need to know

Indian scientists have found the first evidence of solitary electromagnetic waves. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) used data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) to establish the findings. Scientists have identified the solitary waves in the Martian magnetosphere using high-resolution electric field data from MAVEN’s recorded by Langmuir Probe and Waves instruments.

The solitary waves are pulses in the Martian magnetosphere. These fluctuations control other particle functions like particle energisation, plasma loss, and transport through wave-particle interactions. Unlike Earth, which has a strong magnetic field to protect it against ionising solar winds from the Sun, Mars only has a weak magnetic field from its crustal magnetic sources. This allows the solar winds to interact with the Martian atmosphere and create solitary flows. While scientists had theorised that these solitary flows and waves could be observed, teams had been unable to detect these waves before.

The scientists' findings were published in the science journal ‘The Astrophysical’. The research paper consists of the analysis of 450 solitary wave pulses observed by the MAVEN spacecraft. MAVEN observed the pulses in February 2015 and made five passes around the red planet.

“Solitary waves are distinct electric field fluctuations (bipolar or monopolar) that follow constant amplitude-phase relations. Their shape and size are less affected during their propagation. These pulses are dominantly seen in the dawn and afternoon-dusk sectors at an altitude of 1000–3500 km around Mars,” the Ministry of Science & Technology said in a statement about the discovery.

The team of scientists will now be conducting further studies on how these solitary waves can affect particle energisation in the Martian atmosphere. The researchers will be looking at if solitary waves affect the loss of atmospheric ions on the Martian surface.