NASA’s MAVEN Makes 1st Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars - UNIVERSE

In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected — observations of an atmospheric effect never before seen in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Using instruments aboard NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, scientists identified a phenomenon known to occur in Earth’s magnetosphere, where charged particles are squeezed like toothpaste coming out of a tube along magnetic structures called flux tubes. This so-called Zwan-Wolf effect aids in the deflection of solar wind around Earth and has been observed and studied there for decades. Now, a new study published in Nature Communications provides the first comprehensive observations of the same effect in Mars’ atmosphere.

An artistic representation of the Zwan-Wolf effect at Mars, as observed by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission. While this effect typically helps to deflect the solar wind at Earth, at Mars it is shown to “squeeze” the atmosphere and have implications on how space weather interacts with the planet. The yellow arrows represent the movement of the effect in the Martian atmosphere.

LASP/CU Boulder

“When investigating the data, I all of a sudden noticed some very interesting wiggles,” said Christopher Fowler, a research assistant professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown and lead author of the study. “I would never have guessed it would be this effect, since it’s never been seen in a planetary atmosphere before.”

The Zwan-Wolf effect was first discovered in 1976, and until now has only been observed in planetary magnetospheres, not their atmospheres. Unlike Earth, Mars is not protected by a global magnetic field, affecting how it interacts with the solar wind and space weather. In this new study, the Zwan-Wolf effect was observed in the ionosphere — deep within the Martian atmosphere below 200 km — which contains significant numbers of electrically charged particles. The data showed that these charged particles were being squeezed and distributed around Mars’ atmosphere.

Although Mars has an induced magnetosphere, a magnetic field generated by the solar wind interacting with the Martian ionosphere, it can greatly change in size and shape with large solar wind and space weather events. That is what Fowler and his team saw in the MAVEN data when a large solar storm hit Mars. Based on their findings, the Zwan-Wolf effect may be occurring constantly in the Martian ionosphere but at levels undetectable by MAVEN’s instrumentation. The impact of the space weather event appears to have amplified the effect, allowing the scientists to observe it in the data.

In the beginning, Fowler and his team came across some interesting-looking fluctuations in measurements of the magnetic field as the spacecraft flew through the atmosphere. To explain this, they dug into observations made by several instruments on MAVEN, including measurements of the charged particle environment in the ionosphere. Their sleuthing uncovered even more weird and interesting features in the data. After ruling out several other possibilities, the team was able to identify the culprit as the Zwan-Wolf effect, which explained all the features they were seeing.

“No one expected that this effect could even occur in the atmosphere,” said Fowler. “That’s what makes this even more exciting. It introduces interesting physics that we haven’t yet explored and a new way the Sun and space weather can change the dynamics in the Martian atmosphere.”

Understanding the Zwan-Wolf effect at Mars will further our understanding of how space weather affects the planet and provides new insight into how this effect might occur at similar unmagnetized bodies, such as Venus and Saturn’s moon Titan. Observations like this also highlight the importance of knowing how large space weather events can lead to changes in the environment at and around the Red Planet and potentially affect assets on or near Mars.

“Knowing how space weather interacts with Mars is essential,” said Shannon Curry, the principal investigator of MAVEN and research scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. “The MAVEN team continues making new discoveries with our datasets and finding these links between our host star and the Red Planet.”

The MAVEN spacecraft launched in November 2013 and entered Mars’ orbit in September 2014. The mission’s goal is to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space. Understanding atmospheric loss gives scientists insight into the history of the Red Planet’s atmosphere and climate, liquid water, and planetary habitability. The MAVEN spacecraft, in orbit around Mars, experienced a loss of signal with ground stations on Earth on Dec. 6, 2025. In Feb. 2026, NASA launched an anomaly review board to assess the probable current state of the spacecraft and the likelihood of its recovery.

The MAVEN mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. The mission’s principal investigator is based at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, which is also responsible for managing science operations and public outreach and communications. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN mission. Lockheed Martin Space built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California provides navigation and Deep Space Network support.  

By Willow Reed
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder 

Source: NASA’s MAVEN Makes 1st Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars - NASA Science

Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement - Engineering - Energy & Green Tech

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain 

Ideas to reduce carbon emissions often revolve around renewable power, electric vehicles and energy efficiency. But there's another, less colorful character that's often overlooked: cement.

"Cement barely registers in the public mind as a major driver of climate change, but the CO₂ emissions from cement production are similar to all the world's passenger cars," said Jeff Prancevic, a geologist at UC Santa Barbara. Overall, the industry accounts for around 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A study led by Prancevic and Cody Finke, of Brimstone Energy, Inc., proposes a pathway to reducing the carbon footprint of Portland cement, the most widely used type. Producing cement from calcium-rich silicate rocks such as basalt, instead of limestone, could lower both the energy requirements and carbon dioxide emissions associated with production.

The researchers found that silicate-derived Portland cement could require less than 60% of the energy used to process limestone while reducing associated carbon dioxide emissions by more than 80%, which could improve the economics of cement production.

According to the paper, published in Communications Sustainability, the switch is possible with existing technologies and could even provide feedstock for steel and aluminum production, potentially improving the material and energy efficiency of industrial production writ large.

Better, cheaper, cleaner

Portland cement is used in almost all modern construction. It binds together the sand and aggregate used to make concrete. The calcium in cement is currently sourced from limestone because the refining process is simple, although it's very energy intensive. "But limestone is half CO₂," Prancevic said, "which is released into the atmosphere during cement production."

The current method requires heating limestone to over 1,500°C to produce the key ingredient quicklime (calcium oxide). The liberated carbon and oxygen escape as carbon dioxide—approximately 500 kg per metric ton of cement produced, not including additional emissions from the energy used in the process.

Prancevic, Finke and their colleagues investigated whether calcium-rich silicate rocks, such as basalt or gabbro, could be a practical replacement for limestone in Portland cement production.

They first assessed the availability of these rock types at the surface for mining, using existing geological maps, and found that there are sufficient quantities to supply cement production for several hundred thousand years at current production levels.

"Not all of that basalt is easily accessible," Prancevic said, "but the numbers suggest that calcium from basalt is virtually inexhaustible."

The authors then estimated the energy requirements and carbon dioxide emissions of manufacturing cement using silicate rocks. They found that the theoretical minimum energy requirement is less than 60% compared to processing limestone.

Using natural gas as an energy source, the minimum carbon dioxide emissions per ton of cement produced decreased from 609 kg to around 50 kg, depending on the specific type of rock used. These theoretical baselines highlight the immense opportunity for silicate-sourced calcium to reduce both the energy intensity and emissions associated with cement production.

Finally, the authors investigated how silicate rocks could be used to produce Portland cement using technologies borrowed from other industries.

They identified a viable process and found that even without optimization, and using average grid electricity, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 25% compared to the current standard process using limestone.

Displacing the incumbent

On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense to source calcium from a rock that's not full of carbon. "I'm surprised that it's taken so long for this solution to be considered," Prancevic said.

On the other hand, purifying calcium from silicate minerals is simply a much greater engineering challenge than purifying calcium from limestone, which is high in calcium. "So I'm fairly surprised that there seem to be viable, energy-efficient processes to experiment with."

The authors note that silicate rocks typically contain a variety of valuable metals that could be recovered as by-products during industrial cement production. In fact, the ratio of calcium and iron in basalt is almost exactly the ratio that society consumes for cement and steel production, so we could produce these materials from the same rock without excesses of either.

Basalt also has around 20 times more aluminum than we currently consume, so this surplus could open up new opportunities, the researchers said.

Producing several products from the same feedstock minimizes wasted material and energy, which is a major reason this approach is so much more efficient than the limestone route.

Despite its advantages, sourcing cement from silicates may be a tough sell. Cement is cheap (around $150 per ton), and the process to make Portland cement from limestone has been optimized over more than a century.

"The construction industry is built around Portland cement, from design to placement to maintenance," Prancevic said. "Even subtle changes in standards are painstakingly considered and are slow to be adopted. This is exactly why we've focused on technology to make the same Portland cement builders are used to."

Indeed, lower-carbon alternative cements have existed for decades, but without a push to decarbonize, companies may not consider it worth the financial risk to pursue them.

The fact that the team's approach produces Portland cement enables it to slot into existing supply chains, but it will need to demonstrate significant savings to dislodge the production methods entrenched in the industry.

Prancevic's co-authors at Brimstone Energy are working to bring this solution to market, and there is plenty of room for experimentation. For instance, more research could improve the efficiency of the process and the refining of valuable by-products.

"This paper is really a call for other researchers to experiment with new technologies to accelerate cement decarbonization," Prancevic said, "because there is the potential to solve a climate problem as big as cars simply by sourcing calcium from a different rock." 

Provided by University of California - Santa Barbara 

by University of California - Santa Barbara

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan 

Source: Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement