Abstract

When the supersonic solar wind reaches the neighborhood of a planetary obstacle it decelerates. The nature of this interaction can be very different, depending upon whether this obstacle has a large-scale planetary magnetic field and/or a well-developed atmosphere/ionosphere. For a number of years significant uncertainties have existed concerning the nature of the solar wind interaction at Mars, because of the lack of relevant plasma and field observations. However, measurements by the Phobos-2 and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, with different instrument complements and orbital parameters, led to a significant improvement of our knowledge about the regions and boundaries surrounding Mars.

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