NASA is preparing for what they describe as a “unique opportunity” to study how solar storms and radiation may affect astronauts on Mars in the future, reports Sky News.
Earth is protected against such events due to the planet’s magnetic field, while Mars does not have a similar defense. “The red planet” is more vulnerable to the sun’s energetic particles.
Approaching solar maximum
The Sun is approaching a period of peak activity – called solar maximum – which occurs approximately every eleven years.
Never happened before
Scientists still don’t know how much solar storms will affect humans and robots on Mars in the future, but they hope to find out more during the coming solar storms thanks to NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutionN).
MAVEN is a space probe that orbits Mars. The space probe was launched on 18 November 2013, and has been in orbit around the planet since 22 September 2014.
This will be the first time they get to see the impact of the worst solar storms up close. In the coming period, gigantic explosions will break out on the surface of the sun.
The NASA rover “Curiosity” explored the surface of the planet Mars, and captured a spectacular sight on film.
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When a series of these explosions occur, it is called a solar storm, and these send radiation far into space.
The advanced system enables NASA to shut down instruments that may be vulnerable to solar flares, which can disrupt electronics and radio communications.
Researcher cheers: – Love it
The scientists are hoping for some brutal storms in the coming months. One of them is Shannon Curry, principal scientist for NASA’s MAVEN team.
– We do not know what the effect of solar radiation will be on people and property on the surface of Mars when solar activity is at its highest. I love that we can soon see how a big solar explosion will affect Mars this year, says Curry to Sky News before continuing:
– It is a major event that we will study to better understand solar radiation before astronauts go to Mars.
Warns: – We must intervene
During the solar storms, MAVEN’s team will notify those who control the instruments on the ground plane of Mars.
Then they can look for changes and how conditions are developing. NASA believes this will help them learn how habitable Mars really is, as well as what kind of radiation protection astronauts will require.
