MAVEN SWIA instrument lead Jasper Halekas on Iowa Public Radio

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SWIA Science — The Solar Wind and its Interaction with Mars’ Ionosphere Illustration (not to scale) showing the ability of the upstream bow shock and the magnetic field induced in the ionosphere to push the solar wind around the planet. As a result, the solar wind should not hit the ionosphere directly or penetrate deeply into the upper atmosphere. MAVEN’s orbit early in the mission is shown schematically. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC)

The MAVEN Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA) is a part of the spacecraft’s Particles and Fields Package. SWIA measures the solar wind and magnetosheath proton flow around ‪#‎Mars‬ and constrains the nature of solar wind interactions with the upper atmosphere.
Jasper Halekas, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa, talks with Iowa Public Radio’s Ben Kieffer about the instrument and how it measures the constant stream of energy from the sun as it bombards Mars’ upper atmosphere.

To listen to the full interview, (Jasper’s segment covers about the first 15 minutes of the interview).
Learn more about the SWIA instrument.
Iowa Public Radio

10835180_10153160221182868_357467712529809663_o — The SWIA instrument measures the solar wind and ion density and velocity in the magnetosheath of Mars. (Courtesy UCB/SSL – Greg Dalton)

By: Sam Silver
January 15, 2015

MAVEN SWIA instrument lead Jasper Halekas on Iowa Public Radio

Space Sciences Laboratory
at the University of California, Berkeley

SSL is not open to the public. Please contact our administrative team at spacesciencesadmins@ssl.berkeley.edu should you need access to our lab.

MAVEN SWIA instrument lead Jasper Halekas on Iowa Public Radio

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Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley

SSL is not open to the public. Please contact our administrative team at spacesciencesadmins@ssl.berkeley.edu should you need access to our lab.​

Space Sciences Laboratory
at the University of California, Berkeley

SSL is not open to the public. Please contact our administrative team at spacesciencesadmins@ssl.berkeley.edu should you need access to our lab.