Abstract

Tremendous new insights into the Martian atmosphere have been achieved in recent years by two ultraviolet spectrographs built at LASP: the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) aboard the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, and the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) aboard the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM). Both instruments have far exceeded their design goals in science return. This has been accomplished in part through opportunistic and innovative observations, not in the original concept of operations. large quantity of data and provided insights on present-day processes at Mars including dayglow, nightglow, aurora, meteor showers, clouds, and solar-planetary interactions. In this presentation, IÂ will highlight key results obtained by IUVS and EMUS, including (1) mapping of thermosphere composition, structure, and variability, including effects of the global dust storm ; (2) a surprisingly high level of auroral activity of three types; (3) characterizing the dynamics using nightglow. We will present an overview of these results and a discussion of their implications for understanding Mars's atmospheric dynamics and evolution.