资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Collisionless shocks in space plasma are regions of heating and acceleration of charged particles and dissipation of kinetic energy. These accelerated particles are the source of electromagnetic emissions from supernova remnants and other astrophysical structures. At high Mach numbers, shocks can be inherently nonstationary and exhibit modulated energy transfer and recurring plasma compression areas in the form of reformation. We use data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft to study reformation of the Martian bow shock, which has a relatively high curvature compared to that at Earth, and the upstream solar wind is often mass loaded with a population of pickup ions. We show evidence of ion reflection effects in reformation of a supercritical quasiperpendicular shock.