Induced magnetospheres form around conductive non-magnetized planetary objects (such as the ionospheres of Mars, Venus, Titan, Pluto and comets) in the electrodynamic interaction with a magnetized flowing plasma, such as the solar wind. The resulting induced currents couple the ionosphere and the deflected plasma, thus they provide insight into the solar wind’s role in powering the heating, escape and evolution of planetary atmospheres. In contrast to the analogous current systems in intrinsic magnetospheres, which were mapped decades ago at Earth, the current systems of induced magnetospheres are largely unexplored. Here, we use five years of magnetic field measurements from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter to empirically map the current systems of the Martian induced magnetosphere. We find unexpected features, in particular: coupling of the ionosphere and the bow shock, asymmetries between the north–south electric hemispheres and a twist in the near-Mars current system. The current flow pattern in the induced magnetosphere of Mars indicates a system driven by a magnetospheric convective electric field, powered by the solar wind interaction.

感应的磁层与导电的未磁化的行星物体（例如火星，金星，泰坦，冥王星和彗星的电离层）在磁化的流动等离子体（如太阳风）之间进行电动力相互作用而形成。产生的感应电流将电离层和偏转的等离子体耦合在一起，因此，它们可以洞察太阳风在为行星大气层的加热，逃逸和演化提供动力方面的作用。与数十年前在地球上绘制的本征磁层中的类似电流系统相反，感应磁层的当前系统在很大程度上尚未被开发。在这里，我们使用了来自火星大气层和易挥发卫星（MAVEN）轨道器的五年磁场测量结果，以经验方式绘制了火星感应磁层的当前系统。我们发现了意外的功能，特别是：电离层与弓激波的耦合，南北半球之间的不对称性以及近火星电流系统中的扭曲。火星感应磁层中的电流流型表明系统是由磁层对流电场驱动的，由太阳风相互作用提供动力。