THE RED PLANET

Mars Relay Network: Interplanetary Internet - The telecommunications systems of Mars orbiters provide a crucial service for spacecraft on the Red Planet. The Network serves as the first link in a communications bridge back to Earth, an "interplanetary Internet" that will continue to be used by numerous international spacecraft in coming years. - NASA

In December 2022, NASA’s Mars-orbiting MAVEN mission observed the dramatic and unexpected “disappearance” of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that continuously emanates from the Sun. This was caused by a special type of solar event that was so powerful, it created a void in its wake as it traveled through the solar system. The Martian atmosphere and magnetosphere expanded by thousands of kilometers in response, causing the solar wind to temporarily vanish from Mars. MAVEN’s observations of this dramatic event are helping scientists to better understand the physics that drive atmospheric and water loss at Mars.