Search

The microscope for the Beagle 2 lander, which was launched as part of the European Space Agency''s Mars Express mission on 2 June 2003, will provide images of the Martian surface at around 6 μm resolution. It will provide optical images of the surface of Mars at a resolution 5 times higher than any other experiment currently planned. The device has a working distance of 12 mm and uses a set of 12 light-emitting diodes which surround the aperture to illuminate the sample in four colours. The target is brought into focus using a stepper motor. This article describes the scientific objectives and the design of the microscope. It also discusses initial results from ground calibration exercises which were designed to validate the system and describes aspects of its operation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Venus Express mission will focus on a global investigation of the Venus atmosphere and plasma environment, while additionally measuring some surface properties from orbit. The instruments PFS and SPICAV inherited from the Mars Express mission and VIRTIS from Rosetta form a powerful spectrometric and spectro-imaging payload suite. Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC)—a miniature wide-angle camera with 17.5° field of view—was specifically designed and built to complement these experiments and provide imaging context for the whole mission. VMC will take images of Venus in four narrow band filters (365, 513, 965, and 1000nm) all sharing one CCD. Spatial resolution on the cloud tops will range from 0.2km/px at pericentre to 45km/px at apocentre when the full Venus disc will be in the field of view. VMC will fulfill the following science goals: (1) study of the distribution and nature of the unknown UV absorber; (2) determination of the wind field at the cloud tops (70km) by tracking the UV features; (3) thermal mapping of the surface in the 1μm transparency “window” on the night side; (4) determination of the global wind field in the main cloud deck (50km) by tracking near-IR features; (5) study of the lapse rate and H2O content in the lower 6–10km; (6) mapping O2 night-glow and its variability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]