Martian Ionospheric Loss Rates: Now and Then

Over the course of the last few years a variety of research groups have been engaged in simulating the loss of Mars' ionosphere by solar wind interactions with the Martian ionosphere. The research being reported in this paper was performed by using 3-D hybrid particle simulations with a dynamic set of chemistry equations representative of the chemistry that forms and maintains the Martian ionosphere. The paper to be delivered at this meeting addresses scaling of these pickup rates as a function of several variables. These variables EUV flux, neutral density profiles and solar wind parameters are known to be substantially different in earlier epochs of the Martian existance. Knowledge of how the loss rate varies with these parameters will provide researchers with a better understanding of the atmospheric evolution of the planet as well as a possible understanding what happened to some of the water that existed on Mars at earlier times.