Mars Slapped by that Solar Storm
Remember the once-in-a-lifetime aurora show? Be glad you weren't on Mars.
When the sun unleashed a huge X-class solar flare back in May, the only serious effect noticeable to most people on Earth were northern lights that put on a show as far south as Arizona and Florida. Had you been standing on Mars at the time, you’d have been zapped by the equivalent of 30 chest X-rays.
When space weather kicked up by the sun reaches Earth, it mostly stays… in space. Charges particles rain down our planet’s magnetic field lines, racing toward the poles, and as they interact with molecules in our upper atmosphere they kick up aurora (the northern and southern lights) at each end of the planet).
Mars long ago lost its internal magnet, so the charged particles slam into the surface. That, plus the red planet’s thing atmosphere that does a lousy job burning up incoming asteroids and meteors, are among the reasons living on Mars would be hazardous.
Special housing will be required for any humans venturing to Mars, along with protective space suits for any outdoor activities. Some have suggested we could live in some of the many underground lava tubes on Mars. Fun!
“Cliffsides or lava tubes would provide additional shielding for an astronaut from such an event,” said Don Hassler, a Southwest Research Institute scientist who’s in charge of the instrument on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover that measured the radiation at the surface during the solar storm.
Yeah, well. I missed the northern lights (like an idiot). But I think I’ll skip the chance to see it from Mars and thereby avoid the X-rays, thank you.
See animated data and images of the storm on Mars from NASA.