Spacecraft designed to study the effect of solar storms delayed by a solar storm

NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, designed to study the effects of the solar wind on the atmosphere of Mars, was ironically delayed on the launch pad due to a solar storm affecting conditions here on Earth.

ESCAPADE, which stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, was scheduled for takeoff aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket Nov. 12. But it was rescheduled to Nov. 13 due to an eruption on the surface of the sun that could have damaged the spacecraft.

Known as coronal mass ejections, these huge eruptions spew giant clouds of charged particles off the surface of the sun out and into space at tremendous speeds. This week, one of these blobs was aimed towards the Earth, giving people in the northern hemisphere a spectacular display of aurora, or Northern lights, on the evening of Nov. 11. The lights are produced when some of the particles are funnelled by the Earth’s magnetic field down into our upper atmosphere near the poles, causing the air to glow like a huge neon sign. 

However, despite their beauty from the ground, those electrified solar particles can interfere with the electronic circuits of a spacecraft, potentially knocking it out of service, which is why the launch was delayed until the space storm passed. The irony is that the two ESCAPADE spacecraft that were onboard the rocket are designed to study exactly that effect of solar eruptions, but on Mars instead of here on Earth.

One of the big mysteries about the red planet is what happened to its atmosphere. Evidence from spacecraft in orbit and on the surface have shown that about three billion years ago, Mars was warm and wet with rivers, lakes and possibly an ocean on its surface. It raises the possibility that life could have emerged there, although signs of past life have yet to be found. 

Since that warm period, the atmosphere of Mars has thinned to about 1/1000th that of Earth, turning the entire planet into the cold dry desert world we see today.

Scientists think a couple of factors contributed to the loss of Mars’s atmosphere. First, its giant volcanoes, the largest in the solar system, went quiet, so the atmosphere was no longer being replenished from within the planet. Second, its magnetic field became very weak and spotty, allowing solar wind to penetrate deep into the atmosphere, breaking apart air molecules and sputtering them off into space. 

We are fortunate on Earth to have both active volcanoes to feed our atmosphere and a strong magnetic field that acts as a shield to protect us from solar activity.

ESCAPADE involves two orbiting spacecraft that will monitor solar activity and its effect on the Martian atmosphere to determine how quickly the atmosphere is being lost today. This may have implications for future Mars astronauts who will be exposed to increased solar radiation while on the surface.

Mars may not be the only planet to suffer this fate of losing its atmosphere. Scientists in the Netherlands have found a super powerful solar eruption that happened on another star. This coronal mass ejection was hundreds of times stronger and denser than those coming from our sun, and had enough punch to completely strip a planet of its atmosphere. 

The star is a red dwarf, smaller and dimmer than our sun but with a more powerful magnetic field. Given these are the most common stars in the Milky Way, it stands to reason that other nearby planets could also be stripped of their atmospheres. If that is the case, it would reduce the chances of finding life outside of our solar system. Further research could determine how often these super storms take place.

It proves once again that we live in an incredibly small oasis of life in an incredibly violent universe.