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Jet Aerospace Aviation Research Center invites all Indian/International Resource Persons to initiate and be a part in our Satellite MARS Mission. Join us in this occasion which is a milestone in the history of exploration.

 

We also invite Volunteers, Research Members, Scientists & Mentors, Industrial/Institution Collaborations, Supporters.

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Eligibility for Technical Volunteers & Research Members:* Indian/International Students/Professionals from Aerospace/Aeronautical stream

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Mars Atmosphere Research on Solarstorm (MARS) mission was developed by Jet Aerospace Aviation Research Center to study the Martian atmosphere while orbiting Mars. Mission goals include determining how the planet's atmosphere and water presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.

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Objectives

Features on Mars that resemble dry riverbeds and the discovery of minerals that form in the presence of water indicate that Mars once had a dense enough atmosphere and was warm enough for liquid water to flow on the surface. However, that thick atmosphere was somehow lost to space. Scientists suspect that over millions of years, Mars lost 99% of its atmosphere as the planet's core cooled and its magnetic field decayed, allowing the solar wind to sweep away most of the water and volatile compounds that the atmosphere once contained. The goal of MARS Satellite Mission  is to determine the history of the loss of atmospheric gases to space, providing answers about Martian climate evolution. By measuring the rate with which the atmosphere is currently escaping to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes.Scientists will be able to infer how the planet's atmosphere evolved over time. The MARS satellite mission has four primary scientific objectives:

Artist conception of MARS SATELLITE

  • Determine the role that loss of volatiles to space from the Martian atmosphere has played through time.
  • Determine the current state of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the solar wind.
  • Determine the current rates of escape of neutral gases and ions to space and the processes controlling them.
  • Determine the ratios of stable isotopes in the Martian atmosphere.

MARS satellite reached Mars and maneuvered into orbit around the planet on September 2020. The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on board the Curiosity rover was scheduled to make similar surface measurements from Gale crater by that date. The data from Curiosity will help guide the interpretation of  upper atmosphere measurements. MARS satellite's measurements will also provide additional scientific context with which to test models for current methane formation in Mars.



 Overview


 Its design is based on those of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The orbiter has a cubical shape of about 1.2 meters × 1.2 meters × 1 meters high, with two solar arrays that hold the magnetometers on both ends. The total length is 11.4 meters.


Relay Telecommunications


Electra ultra high frequency (UHF) relay radio payload which has a data return rate of up to 2048 kbit/s. The highly elliptical orbit of the MARS satellite may limit its usefulness as a relay for operating landers on the surface, although the long view periods of its orbit have afforded some of the largest relay data returns to date of any Mars orbiter. During the mission's first year of operations at Mars — the primary science phase — MARS satellite will serve as a backup relay orbiter. Going forward into the extended mission for a period of up to ten years, MARS satellite will provide UHF relay service for present and future Mars rovers and landers.

Scientific Instruments

 

MARS satellite will study Mars' upper atmosphere and its interactions with the solar wind. Its instruments will measure characteristics of Mars' atmospheric gases, upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and the solar wind. It will perform measurements from a highly elliptical orbit over a period of one Earth year, with five "deep dips" at 150 km (93 mi) minimum altitude to sample the upper atmosphere. The suite of instruments  include:

  • Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA) – measures solar wind and ionosphere electrons
  • Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA) – measures solar wind and magnetosheath ion density and velocity
  • SupraThermal And Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) – measures thermal ions to moderate-energy escaping ions
  • Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) – determines the impact of SEPs on the upper atmosphere
  • Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer (IUVS) – measures global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere
  • Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) – determines ionosphere properties and wave heating of escaping ions and solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) input to atmosphere
  • Magnetometer (MAG) – measures interplanetary solar wind and ionosphere magnetic fields
  • Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) - measures the composition and isotopes of neutral gases and ions
  • SWEA, SWIA, STATIC, SEP, LPW, and MAG are part of the Particles and Fields instrument suite, IUVS is the Remote Sensing instrument suite, and NGIMS is its own eponymous suite.