Execute a balanced science program based on discipline-specific guidance from the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine administration priorities and direction from congress

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shared Services Center awarded The Regents of the University of California, doing business as University of California, Berkeley, $200,549 under the Science Mission Directorate's Science program (CFDA 43.001) on October 1, 2025, for a project period through September 30, 2028.

The award funds research into the variability of plasma boundaries arising from interactions between the Martian ionosphere and the solar wind, using multi-point measurements from three spacecraft currently orbiting Mars: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), Mars Express, and Tianwen-1. The project addresses three specific scientific objectives: investigating responses of Martian plasma boundaries to solar wind disturbances in near real-time, investigating correlations between instabilities at the Ion Mass Boundary/Ion Composition Boundary and in the ionosphere, and investigating instantaneous asymmetry of Martian plasma boundaries.

Work is performed at Berkeley, California 94710. The Regents of the University of Colorado sub-awarded funding (sub-award 80NSSC25K0094-00012222, obligated October 23, 2025) to provide analysis of Mars Express plasma measurements and technical expertise through Co-Investigator Robin Ramstad at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), University of Colorado Boulder.

Participate as a key partner and enabler in the agencys exploration initiative focusing on scientific research of on and from the moon lunar orbit mars and beyond. Advance discovery in emerging fields by identifying and exploiting cross disciplinary opportunities between traditional science disciplines develop a directorate-wide target-user focused approach to applied programs including earth science applications space weather planetary defense and space situational awareness.