French instruments for in-situ missions: Past, present and future

Abstract

Two in-situ missions were launched at the end of 2011, soon after the 62nd IAC conference, one to Mars and the other to one of its moons, Phobos. The first – Mars Science Laboratory – has been developed by NASA and will take the largest ever rover, Curiosity, to the surface of Mars. The second mission, Phobos-Grunt under the responsibility of Roscosmos, will carry out orbital and in-situ experiments before sending Phobos samples to Earth. As of June 2012, MSL is on its way to Mars: landing is planned on August 6th, 2012 at 07h 31 AM (French time). On the other hand, unfortunately, Phobos-Grunt fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry on January15th , 2012, after rocket burns intended to set the craft on a course for Mars had failed 2 months earlier, shortly after launch.CNES is privileged, together with French scientific laboratories from CNRS, to have contributed to both missions. More specifically, we participate in two MSL instruments:–The mast part of ChemCam (Chemistry Camera) which will analyse by spectrometry the plasma light emitted by Martian rocks after a laser shot. ChemCam—Mast Unit encompasses a laser, a telescope, a camera and the associated electronics.–The Gas Chromatograph (SAM-GC), one of the three SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) instruments. SAM detects a wide range of organic components from the atmosphere and the ground. It will also search for carbon isotopes, as well as noble gas isotopes.French contributions to Phobos Grunt involve:–The Gas-Chromatograph (GC) and the Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectrometer (TDLAS) of the Gas Analytic Package (GAP) which will characterise the molecular soil composition.–The supply of two panoramic cameras (PANCAM), of a pair of stereoscopic cameras (STEREO PAIR), and of a visible microscope (MicrOmega VIS).–The IR spectral microscope (MicrOmega IR), a new instrument that will perform the first in-situ characterisation by microscopic spectral imaging of the mineralogical and molecular composition of a probably nondifferentiated body. This characterisation will be decisive in determining the origin of Phobos, and as a reference for the sample analyses.Before describing extensively these contributions and their objectives, the paper will put them into perspective by presenting previous French involvement in surface missions, in particular on Cassini—Huygens, and on Rosetta—Philae. We will then elaborate on future missions, by presenting our participation in the in-situ segment of the ESA–NASA ExoMars mission, in the DLR–CNES Mascot asteroid lander to be carried by JAXA's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft, and other candidate missions such as GEMS (Geophysical Monitoring Station, in the final list for NASA's Discovery programme to be definitely selected for realisation in 2012), and Selene 2. We will conclude by highlighting the synergy between these missions for the various instrument families.