NASA's MAVEN reveals Mars has metal in its atmosphere

NASA's MAVEN reveals Mars has metal in its atmosphere: Mars has electrically charged metal atoms (ions) high in its atmosphere, according to new results. The metal ions can reveal previously invisible activity in the mysterious electrically charged upper atmosphere (ionosphere) of Mars.

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The team found that the metal ions behaved differently on Mars than on Earth. Earth is surrounded by a global magnetic field generated in its interior, and this magnetic field together with ionospheric winds forces the metal ions into layers. However, Mars has only local magnetic fields fossilized in certain regions of its crust, and the team only saw the layers near these areas. "Elsewhere, the metal ion distributions are totally unlike those observed at Earth," said Grebowsky.