The Dayside Ionopause of Mars: Solar Wind Interaction, Pressure Balance, and Comparisons With Venus

The Venus Ionosphere and Solar Wind Interaction

The current state of knowledge of the chemistry, dynamics and energetics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Venus is reviewed together with the nature of the solar wind-Venus interaction. Because of the weak, though perhaps not negligible, intrinsic magnetic field of Venus, the mutual effects between these regions are probably strong and unique in the solar system. The ability of the Pio...

The Solar Wind Interaction with Venus and Mars: Energetic Neutral Atom and X-ray Imaging

At the non-magnetized planets Venus and Mars, the solar wind comes in direct contact with the planets’ neutrals. This interaction produces energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) and X-rays. In this paper we review some of the different production mechanisms and present examples of simulated ENA and X-ray images. To extract as much information as possible about the ion and neutral distributions in the o...

MESSENGER and Venus Express observations of the solar wind interaction with Venus

[1] At 23:08 UTC on 5 June 2007 the MESSENGER spacecraft reached its closest approach altitude of 338 km during its final flyby of Venus en route to its 2011 orbit insertion at Mercury. The availability of the simultaneous Venus Express solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field measurements provides a rare opportunity to examine the influence of upstream conditions on this planet’s solar win...

The solar wind interaction with Venus through the eyes of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter

Venus has no internal magnetic dynamo and thus its ionosphere and hot oxygen exosphere dominate the interaction with the solar wind. The solar wind at 0.72AU has a dynamic pressure that ranges from 4.5 nPa (at solar max) to 6.6 nPa (at solar min), and its flow past the planet produces a shock of typical magnetosonic Mach number 5 at the subsolar point. At solar maximum the pressure in the ionos...

Understanding the Solar Wind-Mars Interaction with Global Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling