Planetary Exploration; Mars on the Scope

Buenestado Jf Zorzano Mp

doi:10.4172/2332-2519.1000133

Abstract

This article summarizes a practical case of introduction to research and planetary exploration through the analysis of data from the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), one of the ten scientific instruments on board the Curiosity rover of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), currently operating at the impact crater Gale, on Mars. It is the main aim of this work to show how the data that are publicly available at the Planetary Data System (PDS) can be used to introduce undergraduate students and the general public into the subject of surface exploration and the environment of Mars. In particular, the goal of this practice was to investigate and quantify the heat-flux between the rover spacecraft and the Martian surface, the role of the atmosphere in this interaction, and its dependence with seasons, as well as to estimate the thermal contamination of the Martian ground produced by the rover. The ground temperature sensor (GTS) of the REMS instrument has measured in-situ, for the first time ever, the diurnal and seasonal variation of the temperature of the surface on Mars along the rover traverse. This novel study shows that the rover radiative heat flux varies between 10 and 22 W/m2 during the Martian year, which is more than 10% of the solar daily averaged insolation at the top of the atmosphere. In addition, it is shown that the radiative heat flux from the rover to the ground varies with the atmospheric dust load, being the mean annual amplitude of the diurnal variation of the surface temperature of 76 K, as a result of solar heating during the day and infrared cooling during the night. As a remarkable and unexpected outcome, it has been established that the thermal contamination produced by the rover alone induces, on average, a systematic shift of 7.5 K, which is indeed about 10% of the one produced by solar heating. This result may have implications for the design and operation of future surface exploration probes such as Insight.

Highlights

Exploration is the act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources
The basic goal of this article is to introduce the reader to the use of Mars exploration data that are publicly available at the Planetary Data System (PDS), and to provide a practical case which can be used both for outreach purposes and more advanced planetary exploration research
Besides having served to reinforce basic concepts of space and planetary physics and to introduce the students to the use of PDS, the training through this practical case has built a bridge between the academic formation and the real research work, overcoming the gap than often separates one sphere from the other

Summary

Introduction

Exploration is the act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources. As the American astrophysicist Neil de Grasse said in his testimony to the U.S Senate, “Exploration of the unknown might not strike everyone as a priority. When a nation permits itself to dream big, those dreams pervade its citizens’ ambitions” (Past, Present, and Future of NASA, U.S Senate Testimony, Neil de Grasse Tyson, March 7, 2012). The almost daily discovery of new planets in far star systems by means of remote sensing instruments opens new paths for future exploration that will start to be traversed through the exploration of our system. The exploration of Mars, in particular, will be in many senses the first step in facing this challenge since, we live in what can be said to be the Golden Age of Mars exploration

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