A new interpretation of Mars aerobraking variability: Planetary wave-tide interactions

This study presents a new interpretation of Mars aerobraking density observations in terms of planetary wave-tide interactions. Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provide invaluable information about tidal activity in the lower thermosphere of Mars through the longitude structure that they reveal in near-Sun-synchronous frame of reference. However, this same perspective does not permit one to uncover the origins of day-to-day variability of these structures. Herein, by employing a new arrangement of the data and understanding the relationship between spectral features in longitude space versus UT space, we are able to attribute a significant amount of density variability in the aerobraking region to the effect of tidal modulation by planetary waves in the 5-20 day period range.