A green aurora seen on Mars: a historic first captured from the ground
For the first time, the Perseverance rover has observed a visible aurora from the surface of Mars. This green light phenomenon, similar to the terrestrial aurora, marks a major advance in studying the Martian atmosphere. The event confirms the possibility of observing these aurorae with the naked eye on the Red Planet. This discovery opens up new prospects for future manned missions.
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ASA's Perseverance mission has made an impressive discovery: a green aurora similar to those seen in the Earth's polar skies, but this time... on Mars! This luminous phenomenon, detected for the first time in the visible range from the surface of another planet, is an unprecedented scientific discovery.
Until now, all aurora detected on Mars have been detected by satellites, such as ESA's Mars Express or NASA's MAVEN, and only in the ultraviolet. What has changed today is that this aurora has been observed in the visible range at a wavelength of 557.7 nm, the same wavelength that gives the northern lights their green glow on Earth. "This confirms that the Martian aurora can be seen with the naked eye, a fascinating prospect for future human missions", comments Dr Lauriane Soret, a planetary scientist at ULiège. As an expert in Martian UV aurorae, she adviced the Perseverance team to search for this historic aurora.
A promising dawn for manned exploration
Beyond the beauty of the phenomenon, this discovery opens the way to a better preparation for human missions to Mars. The Martian aurora is caused by solar particles penetrating the atmosphere, a phenomenon that can indicate potentially dangerous levels of radiation for future astronauts. Thanks to simpler, lighter, and less expensive instruments, being able to detect them in the visible range simplifies their observation.
This advance is also part of the preparations for the M-MATISSE (Mars Magnetosphere ATmosphere Ionosphere and Space-weather SciencE) mission, currently under selection by ESA and scheduled for 2037. This mission will carry six instruments, including the Japanese M-AC instrument for Mars - Aurora and Dust Camera. Lauriane Soret is the Scientific Lead of this camera, which is dedicated to capturing green auroras from the Martian orbit.
Pending further observations, this first detection of a visible aurora on Mars is an important step forward in understanding the interactions between the Martian atmosphere and the solar wind."It confirms that such phenomena can be observed from the Martian surface, paving the way for future studies using simpler instruments," enthuses the researcher. "The data collected will also enable us to anticipate better radiation conditions, a key issue for future Mars missions."
Scientific reference
Knutsen et al, Detection of visible wavelength aurora on Mars / Green aurora on Mars, Science Advances, 2025
