Solar storm on Mars: NASA rover exposed to radiation equivalent to 30 chest X-rays

At the peak of the solar cycle, the Sun is more likely to blast energy and particles into space.

The recent solar storm produced spectacular aurora borealis on Earth, followed by the Sun’s most powerful solar flare to hit the Red Planet on May 20.

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Soon after, another solar eruption, a coronal mass ejection (a blast of energetic particles from the Sun’s surface), reached Mars.

These energetic particles from the Sun’s surface collided with the surface of Mars, and NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the impact.

The US space agency said in a statement on May 20 that so much energy generated by the storm hit the surface of the Curiosity rover that its black-and-white images danced with “snow” — white streaks and spots caused by charged particles hitting the cameras.

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Unlike Earth, whose magnetic field traps energetic particles in the high atmosphere, Mars lost its protective magnetic field long ago, leading to an impact on the Martian surface.

The magnetic field helps protect the surface and us from radiation.

The May 20 radiation was the highest ever measured since the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012.

“If the astronauts had been standing next to NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at that time, they would have received a radiation dose of 8,100 micrograys — the equivalent of 30 chest X-rays,” NASA said.

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It explains that this is not in itself a “lethal” amount, but “it is certainly something humans would not want to be exposed to, and would never want to be exposed to, repeatedly.”

Humans on Mars

NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s under its Artemis program. Under this program, humans will first return to the Moon by 2026.

The solar storm has created a new stress for NASA, because if it hits the unprotected planet, the space agency will need its astronauts to shelter, ideally underground in a Martian cave, crater or lava tube.

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“Rocks or lava tubes would provide additional protection to astronauts from such an event,” Don Hassler, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute who leads Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector program, said in a statement.

“The dose rates would be much higher in Mars orbit or deep space,” he added.

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Published: June 11, 2024, 06:27 PM IST