THEORETICAL STUDIES LABORATORY AND TERRESTRIAL FIELD EXPERIMENTS INDICATE THAT ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY ON MARS IN THE FORM OF LIGHTNING OR CORONA DISCHARGES SHOULD BE ABUNDANT. HOWEVER YEARS OF DIRECT OBSERVATION FROM ORBIT AND THE GROUND INCLUDING THE RECENT MAVEN MISSION DEDICATED TO THE STUDY OF THE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE SHOW NO CLEAR EVIDENCE OF ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES. WE PROPOSE HERE A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS DESIGNED TO SHED LIGHT ON A PHENOMENON THAT IS OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE FOR FUTURE MANNED MISSIONS TO THE PLANET.

Appalachian State University, Boone NC

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