Monday, October 05, 2026 at 3:30 pm

JILA auditorium

Shannon Curry, CU Boulder

"Mars and Venus: Atmospheric Evolution and Exploration"

Abstract:

Mars, Venus, and Earth formed at roughly the same time and from similar building blocks, yet their atmospheres have evolved along dramatically different paths. A fundamental driver of this divergence is our host star, the sun, whose extreme ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, solar wind, and space weather events interact with planetary atmospheres. Atmospheric escape—the complex interplay of physical and chemical processes that removes particles to space—is a critical mechanism governing planetary evolution and can ultimately determine whether a planet can sustain a habitable environment. As we may never have in-situ measurements from an exoplanet in our lifetime, spacecraft missions to our terrestrial neighbors provide an unparalleled natural laboratory for understanding the evolution of the only planetary system known to harbor life. In this talk, I will discuss atmospheric escape processes at Mars and Venus, focusing on observations spanning solar cycles 22–25. These include recent measurements from Parker Solar Probe during its Venus flybys as well as observations from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, focusing on how solar drivers—including flares and coronal mass ejections—affect the Martian atmosphere and its loss to space. Finally, I will use these observations to explore atmospheric escape under the more extreme solar conditions of the young Sun. These results provide a framework for connecting the evolution of terrestrial atmospheres in our Solar System to the environments of exoplanets orbiting young, active stars, offering insight into how stellar activity shapes planetary habitability over time.

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