Data from the Ion Mass Analyzer (IMA) sensor of the ASPERA-3 instrument suite onboard Mars Express and data from the Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (MAG/ER) on Mars Global Surveyor have been analyzed to determine whether ion beam events (IBEs) are correlated with the direction of the draped interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) or the proximity of strong crustal magnetic fields to the subsolar point. We examined 150 IBEs and found that they are organized by IMF draping direction. However, no clear dependence on the subsolar longitude of the strongest magnetic anomaly is evident, making it uncertain whether crustal magnetic fields have an effect on the formation of the beams. We also examined data from the IMA sensor of the ASPERA-4 instrument suite on Venus Express and found that IBEs are observed at Venus as well, which indicates the morphology of the Martian and Venusian magnetotails are similar.

Results from Mars Express, Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Global Surveyor indicate that Mars harbored large amounts of liquid water on the surface in the past. In order for the water-associated geomorphologic features to form, the pressure in the atmosphere must have been at least a hundred times higher to produce the necessary greenhouse effect required to hold liquid water stable. The present atmospheric pressure is only 6-9 mbar and moreover, the spectral imaging of Mars suggests that the amount of carbonates stored in the surface is too low in order to explain the denser atmosphere in the past. This controversy led us to investigate the escaping plasma by analyzing the data from the IMA sensor (Ion Mass Analyzer) of the ASPERA-3 instrument suite onboard Mars Express. The IMA sensor measures the differential flow of ion components in the energy range of 0.01-30 keV/q.Since the instrument design was optimized for studies of plasma dynamics, the mass resolution is not adequate enough to directly resolve CO+2 from O+2 , which is the main molecular ion composing the Mars ionosphere according to theoretical models. Therefore, a special multi-species fitting technique, using calibration and in-flight data, was developed to resolve the CO+2 peak from the neighboring and much more intense O+2 peak. This technique was applied to the observations covering the period from April 4, 2004 to October 2, 2005. The events of heavy ion escape were identified inside the induced magnetosphere boundary and the Martian eclipse. We report the results of statistical studies of these ion-beam events which permitted to determine CO+2 / O+ and the O+2 / O+ ratio of the escaping plasma at Mars.