Ions of planetary origin in the Martian magnetosphere (Phobos 2/TAUS experiment)

The measurements onboard the Phobos 2 Martian orbiter revealed one more physical process of Martian neutral atmosphere dissipation - outflow of heavy ions of planetary origin through the magnetic tail of Mars. The distribution of heavy ions through the cross-section of the Martian magnetotail is studied based on TAUS spectrometer data. Average loss rate of heavy ions through the plasmasheet (separating magnetotail lobes) is evaluated as ∼ 5 × 10 ²⁴ s ^-1. The revealed process of Martian atmosphere dissipation is important for cosmological time and constitutes ∼ 10% of non-thermal oxygen dissipation due to dissociative recombination of molecular oxygen ions near exobase.