Meteoroid streams at Mars: possibilities and implications

In order to assess the possibility of meteoroid streams detectable from the surface of Mars as meteor showers we have derived minimum distances and as sociated velocities for a large sample of small body orbits relative to the orbits of Mars and the Earth. The population ratio for objects approaching to within 0.2 AU of these two planets is found to be approximately 2:1. Th e smaller relative velocities in the case of Mars appears to be the main im pediment to the detection of meteors in the upper atmosphere of that planet . We identify five bodies, including the unusual object (5335) Damocles and periodic comet 1P/Halley, with relative orbital parameters most suitable t o produce prominent meteor showers. We identify specific epochs at which sh owers related to these bodies are expected to occur. An overview of possibl e detection methods taking into account the unique characteristics of the M artian environment is presented. We pay particular attention on the effects of such streams on the dust rings believed to be present around Mars. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.