SOLAR FLARES PRODUCE A BURST OF RADIATION OVER A WIDE RANGE OF WAVELENGTHS INCLUDING X-RAY AND EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET (EUV) WHICH ARE THE MAIN IONIZING SOLAR IRRADIANCE FOR PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES AT LOW AND HIGH ALTITUDES RESPECTIVELY. HOWEVER UNLIKE EARTH THE DETAILS OF HOW THE NEAR-MARS SPACE ENVIRONMENT RESPONDS TO THIS TYPE OF EPISODIC TRANSIENT EVENTS ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD DUE TO SEVERAL REASONS. FIRST SOLAR FLARES EVOLVE MUCH FASTER THAN THE ORBITAL PERIODS OF SPACE-BORNE SATELLITES. ONLY A HANDFUL OF INTENSE SOLAR FLARE EVENTS HAVE BEEN CAPTURED AT MARS AND NO MULTI-POINT OBSERVATIONS ARE AVAILABLE. MOREOVER ALL OF THE REPORTED X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE EVENTS WERE ALREADY IN THEIR LATE DECAY PHASE AND THUS MISSED THE RESPONSES DURING FLARE PEAKS. SECOND ALL THE OBSERVATIONS OF THE SOLAR FLARE-GENERATED ELECTRON DENSITY DISTURBANCES OCCURRED AT HIGH SOLAR ZENITH ANGLES NEAR THE TERMINATOR AND MISSED THE POTENTIALLY MORE IMPORTANT SUBSOLAR REGIME. THIRD THE PUBLISHED SOLAR FLARE EFFECT STUDIES FOCUSED ON THE IONOSPHERE AT ALTITUDES BELOW THE EXOBASE. FEW SOLAR FLARE CONSEQUENCES ARE EVALUATED FOR THE THERMOSPHERE AND HIGH-ALTITUDE IONOSPHERE WHERE THE MARS-SOLAR WIND INTERACTION DOMINATES AND CONTROLS PLASMA TRANSPORT AND LOSS TO SPACE. FOURTH THE X-CLASS 15 APRIL 2001 AND MOST RECENT 10 SEPTEMBER 2017 SOLAR FLARE EVENTS WHICH HAVE DRAWN THE MOST ATTENTION FROM THE MARS COMMUNITY ARE LIMB FLARES. DUE TO THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE BEING OPTICALLY THIN TO X-RAY BUT OPTICALLY THICK TO EUV WAVELENGTH A SOLAR LIMB FLARE LEADS TO MUCH WEAKER SOLAR EUV ENHANCEMENT (WHICH HOWEVER IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT FOR BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGH-ALTITUDE SPACE WEATHER EFFECTS) COMPARED TO A DISK-CENTERED FLARE. ALL TOGETHER THE PICTURE OF HOW SOLAR FLARES AFFECT THE NEAR-MARS SPACE ENVIRONMENT ON A PLANETARY SCALE BEYOND THE LOW-ALTITUDE IONOSPHERE REMAINS COMPLETELY UNSOLVED. SPECIFICALLY THIS PROPOSAL AIMS TO ADDRESS: 1) TO WHAT EXTENT DO SOLAR FLARES IMPACT THE MARS IONOSPHERE UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND INDUCED MAGNETOSPHERE? 2) HOW DOES THE SOLAR DISK LOCATION OF SOLAR FLARES AFFECT THE RESPONSE OF THE MARS SYSTEM? 3) HOW MUCH ATMOSPHERIC LOSS IS INDUCED BY SOLAR FLARES AND SUPERFLARES? THESE SCIENCE QUESTIONS WILL BE ADDRESSED BY COUPLING TOGETHER THREE SOPHISTICATED MODELS. THE NEWLY DEVELOPED AND VALIDATED FLARE IRRADIANCE SPECTRAL MODEL-MARS (FISM-M) WILL BE USED TO SPECIFY THE TIME-VARYING SOLAR IRRADIANCE. THE MARS GLOBAL IONOSPHERE THERMOSPHERE MODEL (MGITM) WILL THEN BE APPLIED TO ASSESS THE SOLAR FLARE IMPACT ON THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND LOW-ALTITUDE IONOSPHERE. USING THESE TIME-DEPENDENT RESULTS TO UPDATE PHOTOIONIZATION ION-NEUTRAL COLLISIONS AND INNER IONOSPHERIC BOUNDARY CONDITIONS OUR 3-D MULTI-SPECIES MHD MODEL IS ABLE TO CONSISTENTLY DERIVE THE CHANGES AT HIGH ALTITUDES INCLUDING THE UPPER IONOSPHERE AND INDUCED MAGNETOSPHERE AND FINALLY ASSESS THE IMPACT ON GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC ESCAPE. WE WILL ALSO EXAMINE HOW THE SOLAR DISK LOCATION OF SOLAR FLARES AFFECTS THEIR CONSEQUENCES BY USING CORRESPONDING SOLAR IRRADIANCE OUTPUTS FROM FISM-M. THESE PHYSICS-BASED MODELING EFFORTS ENABLE US TO CHARACTERIZE THE GLOBAL MARS RESPONSES TO SOLAR FLARE EVENTS AND TO EVALUATE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ATMOSPHERIC EVOLUTION. THE CALCULATION RESULTS WILL BE FURTHER EXAMINED THROUGH COMPARISON WITH THE OBSERVATIONS FROM MARS-ORBITING SATELLITES (MGS MAVEN) FOR SIMULATED SOLAR FLARE EVENTS. THE MODEL-DATA COMPARISON WILL CONSTRAIN THE KEY PROCESSES THAT TRANSFER ENERGY FROM SOLAR IRRADIANCE TO ATMOSPHERIC SPECIES AND REDISTRIBUTE WITHIN THE MARS SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED WORK IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THE NASA SOLAR SYSTEM WORKINGS PROGRAM SPECIFICALLY ITS CALL ON THE INVESTIGATION OF "MAGNETOSPHERIC PROCESSES AND DYNAMICS" IN "PLASMA ENVIRONMENTS". ESPECIALLY WE PROPOSE TO UNDERTAKE THE FIRST GLOBAL STUDY OF THE RESPONSE OF THE COUPLED MARS UPPER ATMOSPHERE-IONOSPHERE-INDUCED MAGNETOSPHERE SYSTEM TO SOLAR FLARES.