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  • Phobos 2 Encounter
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First measurements of plasma waves near Mars

Abstract

HERE we report preliminary results from electic field measurements in the environment of Mars using the plasma-wave system on board the Soviet spacecraft Phobos 2. It also includes a Lang-muir probe which measured plasma densities. Electron-plasma oscillations observed upstream of the bow shock correspond to a solar-wind density of 2 cm-3. The shock-foot boundary was crossed up to three times on each orbit. The shock ramp was detected at altitudes between 0.45 and 0.75 Mars radii (RM) above the planetary surface. The density increased by about a factor of two at the ramp. The shock position, although variable, seemed to be consistent with previous measurements. The downstream mag-netosheath contained broadband electric-field noise below the plasma frequency. The boundary of the obstacle, or planetopause, was crossed at altitudes of the order of 0.28 RM; the cold plasma density was highly variable within the planetopause and reached the unexpected value of 700 cm-3 on the third orbit, at 0.25 Rm altitude. Bursts of waves with frequencies below the electron cyclotron frequency, possibly in the whistler mode, occur within the planetopause.

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Grard, R., Pedersen, A., Klimov, S. et al. First measurements of plasma waves near Mars. Nature 341, 607–609 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/341607a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/341607a0

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