Mars Odyssey MARIE Radiation Dose Plots June and July, 2002

These two plots show the 10 minute averaged dose rate data for the months of June and July, 2002. June was a fairly quiet month at Mars, averaging 20 – 24 millirads/day. The lower readings on June 18th are due to communication problems with the spacecraft. The gaps in the data are caused by download and erase operations, and the small spikes at the beginning of each data block are due to instrumental instabilities. July was a much more exciting month, with a fairly large solar particle event (SPE) commencing on July 16th. The instrument was placed in "safe mode" as a precaution. When it was returned to "data collecting mode" on July 23rd, the dose rate was still quite high, reading more than 100 millirads/day. The last data set collected prior to conjunction ended on July 30th.