HR: 14:35h
AN: SA33C-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Ion Pickup at Mars
AU: * Brecht, S H
EM: sbrecht@pacbell.net
AF: Bay Area Research Corp., P.O. Box 366, Orinda, CA 94563, United States
AU: Ledvina, S A
EM: ledvina@ssl.berkeley.edu
AF: Space Sciences Lab., University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
AB: With the continual presence of spacecraft in the near space region of Mars, one of the most intriguing questions has become: What happened to the water on Mars? This question has a direct connection to the issues of Mars loss of atmosphere/ionosphere due to solar wind intereaction with this planet. In recent years simulations have been employed to estimate the loss rate under different solar wind conditions. A variety of scientists in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. have performed such simulations. The results have produced mix results. In this paper our simulation efforts will be discussed. Specific emphasis will be placed on the electromagnetic environment surrounding Mars as various models are changed. We will discuss where the sensitivities seem to reside. We will discuss the sensitivities we have seen based on model choices.
DE: 6225 Mars
DE: 6295 Venus
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly