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Martian planetary heavy ion sputtering of Phobos
Author(s) -
Poppe A. R.,
Curry S. M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061100
Subject(s) - martian , astrobiology , solar wind , mars exploration program , sputtering , micrometeoroid , outgassing , meteoroid , atmosphere of mars , physics , atmospheric escape , flux (metallurgy) , environmental science , astronomy , spacecraft , plasma , materials science , nuclear physics , thin film , quantum mechanics , space debris , metallurgy
Abstract The Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, have long been suspected to be the sources of tenuous neutral gas tori encircling Mars. While direct outgassing has been ruled out as a strong source, micrometeoroid impact vaporization and charged particle sputtering must operate based on observations at other airless bodies. Previous models have addressed solar wind sputtering of Phobos; however, Phobos and Deimos are also subject to a significant, yet temporally variable, flux of heavy planetary ions escaping from Mars. In this report, we use a combination MHD/test‐particle model to calculate the planetary heavy ion flux to Phobos and the ensuing neutral sputtered flux. Depending on ambient solar wind conditions and the location of Phobos, heavy ion sputtering of Phobos generates neutral fluxes up to and exceeding that from solar wind sputtering. We model pickup ions from the Phobos torus itself with applications for observations by the upcoming Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution mission.