Constraining the Meteoroid Flux in the inner solar system

The inner solar system is populated by Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) released from cometary trails and collisions between asteroids. Planetary bodies and satellites therefore encounter a cloud of IDPs along their orbits, giving rise to a permanent bombardment on their respective atmospheres or surfaces. Constraining the magnitude of the mass influx of IDPs onto a solar system body is crucial for understanding the effects in their atmospheres and on their surfaces.

For planetary bodies with atmospheres, collisions with air molecules lead to the thermal ablation of IDPs above their melting temperature and, therefore, their constituent elements evaporate and produce layers of free neutral and ionized atoms, being Mg, Fe, Si, and Na the major metallic species. Metallic layers in the Earth’s atmosphere have been widely studied for decades using ground-based lidar and space-based optical spectroscopy. In the case of Mars, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) reported the first detection of a persistent Mg+ layer in Mars’ atmosphere peaking around 90 km.

In this talk, firstly I will review the most relevant modelling results for the meteoroid mass influx at the Earth, Mars, and Venus. Second, I will discuss the results of the most recent state-of-the-art models able to provide a comprehensive description of the meteoroid impacts accounting for the temporal, latitudinal, and seasonal distributions of the main meteoroid populations in the inner solar system.