Modeling of Venus, Mars, and Titan

Increased computer capacity has made it possible to model the global plasma and neutral dynamics near Venus, Mars and Saturn’s moon Titan. The plasma interactions at Venus, Mars, and Titan are similar because each possess a substantial atmosphere but lacks a global internally generated magnetic field. In this article three self-consistent plasma models are described: the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, the hybrid model and the fully kinetic plasma model. Chamberlain and Monte Carlo models of the Martian exosphere E. Kallio ( ) Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland e-mail: [email protected] J.-Y. Chaufray Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France e-mail: [email protected] R. Modolo Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, 45 avenue des Etats-Unis, 78035 Versailles cedex, France e-mail: [email protected] R. Modolo Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux et Observations Spatiales, Quartier des Garennes, 11 bd d’Alembert, 78280 Guyancourt, France R. Modolo Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Quartier des Garennes, 11 bd d’Alembert, 78280 Guyancourt, France D. Snowden Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA e-mail: [email protected] R. Winglee Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Johnson Hall, Box 351310, Seattle, WA 98195-1310, USA e-mail: [email protected] 268 E. Kallio et al. are also described. In particular, we describe the pros and cons of each model approach. Results from simulations are presented to demonstrate the ability of the models to capture the known plasma and neutral dynamics near the three objects.