1. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Mission
- Author
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Rodríguez-Manfredi, José Antonio, Torre Juárez, Manuel de la, Alonso, A., Apéstigue, V., Arruego, I., Atienza, T., Banfield, D., Boland, J., Carrera, M. A., Castañer, L., Ceballos, J., Chen-Chen, H., Cobos, A., Conrad, P.G., Cordoba, E., Río-Gaztelurrutia, T. del, Vicente-Retortillo, A. de, Domínguez-Pumar, M., Espejo, S., Gómez-Elvira, Javier, Gómez, F., Fairen, A.G., Fernández-Palma, A., Ferrándiz, R., Ferri, F., Fischer, E., García-Manchado, A., García-Villadangos, M., Genzer, M., Giménez, S., Guzewich, Scott D., Harri, A.M., Hernández, C.D., Hieta, M., Hueso, R., Jaakonaho, I., Jiménez, J.J., Jiménez, V., Larman, A., Leiter, R., Lepinette, A., Lemmon, M.T., López, G., Madsen, S.N., Mäkinen, T., Marín, M., Martín-Soler, J., Martínez, G., Molina, A., Mora-Sotomayor, L., Moreno-Álvarez, J.F., Navarro, S., Ortega, C., Parrondo, M.C., Peinado, V., Peña, A., Pérez-Grande, I., Pérez-Hoyos, S., Pla-García, J., Postigo, M., Prieto-Ballesteros, Olga, Ramos, M., Romeral, J., Romero, C., Saiz-Lopez, A., Sánchez-Lavega, A., Sard, I., Sebastian, E., Toledo, D., Torrero, F., Torres, J., Urquí, R., Velasco, T., Viúdez-Moreiras, D., Zurita, S., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (España), Eusko Jaurlaritza, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US)
- Abstract
86 pags., 49 figs., 24 tabs. NASA’s Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples to measure atmospheric temperature at ∼1.5 m and ∼0.5 m above the surface, a set of thermopiles to characterize the thermal IR brightness temperatures of the surface and the lower atmosphere. MEDA adds a radiation and dust sensor to monitor the optical atmospheric properties that can be used to infer bulk aerosol physical properties such as particle size distribution, non-sphericity, and concentration. The MEDA package and its scientific purpose are described in this document as well as how it responded to the calibration tests and how it helps prepare for the human exploration of Mars. A comparison is also presented to previous environmental monitoring payloads landed on Mars on the Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, MSL, and InSight spacecraft. This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the projects No. ESP2014-54256-C4-1-R (also -2-R, -3-R and -4-R) and AYA2015-65041-P; Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, projects No. ESP2016-79612-C3-1-R (also -2-R and -3-R), ESP2016-80320-C2-1-R, RTI2018-098728-B-C31 (also -C32 and -C33) and RTI2018-099825-B-C31; Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial; Ministry of Science and Innovation’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology; Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT1366-19; and European Research Council Consolidator Grant no 818602. The US co-authors performed their work under sponsorship from NASA’s Mars 2020 project, from the Game Changing Development program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate and from the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate.
- Published
- 2021