Solar Wind Disappearance Causes Mars's Atmosphere to Expand

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft observes rare event, providing insights for future human exploration and theories about Mars's past.

Mars's atmosphere expanded by thousands of kilometers due to a rare event on the sun that caused the solar wind to disappear around Mars.
The solar wind disappearance was caused by a burst of high-speed solar wind from the sun that swept away a region of the regular solar wind, leaving a void in its wake.
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft observed the event, which last occurred in 1999 when the solar wind disappeared around Earth, causing Earth's atmosphere to swell five times larger than normal.
The disappearance of the solar wind is important to understand for human exploration on Mars, as astronauts in space are vulnerable to the extreme radiation that can come with solar eruptions.
The event offers a clue as to how Mars became a dry, harsh, lifeless place, as powerful barrages of solar wind may have eroded away the Martian atmosphere.