Since Venus is an unmagnetized planet, it doesn’t interact with the solar wind in the same way as planets with an intrinsic magnetic field do. Due to its conductive ionosphere, however, it still possesses an induced magnetosphere. Venus’s magnetosphere contains different boundaries, identified by changes in the plasma or magnetic field characteristics. The boundaries we studied in this project are the bow shock and the Ion Composition Boundary (ICB). Previous studies identified the boundaries’ locations and compared them with plasma measurements outside of the magnetosphere, finding how the boundaries react to varying solar wind upstream conditions. What has been more rarely done, instead, is to find the analytical dependency of the bow shock and ICB on the upstream conditions. This was the purpose of this project. Developing this comprehensive analytical model allows us to determine the location of the boundaries, once the upstream conditions are defined. We used a database of boundary crossings and upstream conditions measurements deriving from the Venus EXpress (VEX). The procedure we followed was first to divide the boundaries crossings into bins, analyzing one upstream condition at a time. Then, we fitted the crossings using analytical equations depending on geometrical parameters. For the bow shock we used a conic section with semi-latus rectum L and eccentricity ε as geometrical parameters, for the dayside ICB we used a circumference with the radius R as geometrical parameter. We fitted these geometrical parameters with the upstream conditions in each bin and found the final model. The final equation for the bow shock depends on the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) magnitude, the solar wind mass flux, and the angle between the IMF direction and the local shock normal. For the ICB the final equation depends on the solar wind energy flux and the solar Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) flux. Given these solar wind and IMF properties, the geometrical parameters of the boundaries are uniquely identified. Then, we were able to determine the boundaries’ locations and shapes with higher accuracy than the general fitting models that don’t consider upstream conditions. For the bow shock we improved the accuracy by 17%, for the ICB by 8%. / Eftersom Venus är en omagnetisk planet växelverkar den inte med solvinden på samma sätt som planeter med ett inneboende magnetfält. På grund av sin ledande jonosfär har den dock fortfarande en inducerad magnetosfär. Venus magnetosfär innehåller olika gränser, identifierade av förändringar i plasma- eller magnetfältets egenskaper. Gränserna vi studerade i det här projektet är bogshocken och Ion Composition Boundary (ICB). Tidigare studier identifierade gränsernas lägen och jämförde dem med plasmamätningar utanför magnetosfären, och hittade hur gränserna ändras med varierande solvind uppströms. Vad som har gjorts mer sällan är att hitta det analytiska beroendet av bogchocken och ICB på uppströmsförhållandena. Det var syftet med det här projektet. Genom att utveckla de här analytiska modellerna kan vi bestämma placering för gränserna när uppströmsförhållandena har definierats. Vi använde en databas med gränsövergångar och mätningar av uppströmsförhållanden härrörande från Venus EXpress (VEX). Proceduren vi följde var först att dela upp gränsövergångarna i dataintervall och analysera ett uppströmsläge i taget. Sedan anpassade korsningarna med hjälp av analytiska ekvationer beroende på geometriska parametrar. För bogshocken använde vi en konisk sektion med semi-latus rektum L och excentricitet ε som geometriska parametrar, för dagsida ICB använde vi en omkrets med radien R som geometrisk parameter. Vi anpassade de här geometriska parametrarna för olika uppströmsförhållanden och tog fram en modell. Den slutliga ekvationen för bogshocken beror på det interplanetära magnetfältets (IMF) magnitud, solvindens rörelsemängd och vinkeln mellan IMF och den lokala shocknormalen. För ICB beror den slutliga ekvationen på solvindenergiflödet och extrem ultraviolett (EUV) flöde. Med avseende på de här solvinds- och IMF-egenskaperna är de geometriska parametrarna för gränserna identifierade. Sedan kunde vi bestämma gränsernas placeringar och former med högre noggrannhet än de allmänna modellerna som inte tar hänsyn till uppströmsförhållanden. För bogchocken förbättrade vi noggrannheten med 17% och för ICB med 8%.

The accessibility of the Martian atmosphere to spacecraft provides an opportunity to study an ionosphere that differs from our own. Yet, despite the half century of measurements made at Mars, the current state of the neutral atmosphere and its embedded plasma (ionosphere) remains largely uncharacterized. In situ measurements of the neutral and ionized constituents versus height exist only from the two Viking Landers from the 1970s. Subsequent satellite and remote sensing data offer sparse global coverage of the ionosphere. Thermal characteristics of the plasma environment are not well understood. Patchy crustal magnetic fields interact with the Martian plasma in a way that has not been fully studied. Hence, investigating the coupled compositional, thermal and crustal-field-affected properties of the ionosphere can provide insight into comparative systems at Earth and other planets, as well as to atypical processes such as the solar wind interaction with topside ionospheric plasma and associated pathways to escape. Ionospheric models are fundamental tools that advance our understanding of complex plasma systems. A pre-existing one-dimensional model of the Martian ionosphere has been upgraded to include more comprehensive chemistry and transport physics. This new BU Mars Ionosphere Model has been used to study the composition, thermal structure and dynamics of the Martian ionosphere. Specifically: the sensitivity of the abundance of ions to neutral atmospheric composition has been quantified, diurnal patterns of ion and electron temperatures have been derived self-consistently using supra-thermal electron heating rates, and the behavior of ionospheric plasma in crustal field regions was simulated by constructing a two-dimensional ionospheric model. Results from these studies were compared with measurements and show that (1) ion composition at Mars is highly sensitive to the abundance of neutral molecular and atomic hydrogen, (2) lighter ions heat up more efficiently than heavier ones and provide additional heating sources for cooler plasma, and (3) crustal field morphology affects plasma dynamics and structure at Mars in a way that is consistent with observations. Finally, model predictions of ion composition and plasma temperatures are provided for observations to be made by several instruments on board the upcoming 2013 MAVEN orbiter.