On Oct. 28, 2021, a huge burst of plasma and magnetized particles erupted from the sun. The massive solar outburst washed over Earth, the moon, and Mars, bathing them in radiation. And, for the first time, instruments on all three bodies measured the same event almost simultaneously.
On Mars, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and NASA’s Curiosity rover registered the influx of energized particles. On the moon, these particles were picked up by the Chinese National Space Administration’s Chang’e-4 and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). And closer to home, the German Aerospace Center’s Eu:CROPIS satellite detected the radiation from low Earth orbit. The effects of this solar hat trick were reported Aug. 8 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Dispatches From The Front 