The Relevance of Current and Future Mars Missions to Mars Atmospheric Science (An Admittedly Slight U.S.-Centric View)
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The Relevance of Current and Future Mars Missions to Mars Atmospheric Science (An Admittedly Slight U.S.-Centric View) Scot Rafkin Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Colorado, USA [email protected] NASA and ESA Mars Mission Portfolio 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 Beyond Odyssey Mars Global Surveyor MRO MAVEN Aeronomy Mars Express Orbiter ESA-IKI ExoMars Next Mars Orbiter Trace (NeMO) Gas Orbiter ? ESA Lander/Rover ESA—EDL NASA Rover Demonstrator Mars Sample Return MERs Phoenix Mars Science Laboratory InSIGHT 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 2 NASA and ESA Mars Mission Portfolio 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 Beyond Odyssey Mars Global Surveyor MRO MAVEN Aeronomy Mars Express Orbiter ESA-IKI ExoMars Next Mars Orbiter The Age of Trace (NeMO) Gas Orbiter Mapping ? ESA Lander/Rover ESA—EDL NASA Rover Demonstrator Mars Sample Return MERs Phoenix Mars Science Laboratory InSIGHT 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 3 NASA and ESA Mars Mission Portfolio 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 Beyond Odyssey Mars Global Surveyor MRO MAVEN Aeronomy Mars Express Orbiter ESA-IKI ExoMars Next Mars Orbiter The Epoch of Trace (NeMO) Gas Orbiter Mapping ? The Epoch of ESA Lander/Rover ESA—EDL NASA Rover Demonstrator In Situ Mars Sample Geology Return MERs Phoenix Mars Science Laboratory InSIGHT 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 4 NASA and ESA Mars Mission Portfolio 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 Beyond Odyssey Mars Global Surveyor MRO MAVEN Aeronomy Mars Express Orbiter ESA-IKI ExoMars Next Mars Orbiter The Epoch of Trace (NeMO) Gas Orbiter Mapping The “Forgotten ? The Epoch of Science” ESA Lander/Rover ESA—EDL NASA Rover Demonstrator In Situ Interlude Mars Sample Geology Return MERs Phoenix Mars Science Laboratory InSIGHT 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 5 NASA and ESA Mars Mission Portfolio 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 Beyond Odyssey Mars Global Surveyor MRO MAVEN Aeronomy Mars Express Orbiter ESA-IKI ExoMars Next Mars Orbiter The Epoch of Trace (NeMO) Gas Orbiter The Epoch of: Mapping The •MSR? “Forgotten •Humans? •Private Industry?? The Epoch of Science” ESA Lander/Rover•Unknown? ESA—EDL NASA Rover Demonstrator • In Situ Interlude Nothing?Mars Sample Geology Return MERs Phoenix Mars Science Laboratory InSIGHT 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 6 The Epoch of Mapping TES Dust, Clouds, Vapor MOLA Topography TES Thermal Inertia 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 7 The Epoch of Mapping TES Dust, Clouds, Vapor MOLA Topography TES Thermal Inertia 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 8 The Epoch of Mapping TES Dust, Clouds, Vapor MOLA Topography TES Thermal Inertia 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 9 The Epoch of Mapping TES Dust, Clouds, Vapor Mars Climate Sounder Density Scaled Opacity (McCleese et al., 2011) MOLA Topography TES Thermal Inertia 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 10 The Epoch of Mapping TES Dust, Clouds, Vapor MOLA Topography TES Thermal Inertia 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 11 The Epoch of Mapping TES Dust, Clouds, Vapor Over a decade of orbital MOLAobservations Topography provided an amazing wealth of information that revolutionized Mars science. TES Thermal Inertia 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 12 Epoch of Mapping: Climate Science • Atmospheric thermal structure plus derived balanced wind – Thermal tides, waves – Effect of dust on temperatures – Inferred wind structure (zonal jets) • Water vapor/cloud climatology – Column abundance • Dust – Column abundance and limited vertical structure • Surface boundary conditions for climate and mesoscale modeling – Topography – Thermal inertia – Albedo • No surface measurements since Viking First steps: Characterization of what is there 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 13 The Epoch of In Situ Geology The Mars Exploration Rovers represent the first robotic geologists on Mars that investigated interesting areas observed from orbit in the previous Epoch of Mapping. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 14 MERs: Evidence of Past Water Hematite concretions The Mini-Thermal Emission Spectromter found high amounts of sulfate. The Mössbauer Fine, parallel laminations spectrometer identified the mineral jarosite that contains OH. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 15 MERs: Evidence of Brines and Evaporites • Higher concentrations of sulfur and bromine than nearby patch of soil. • A nearby rock similarly has extremely high concentrations of sulfur, but very little bromine. • Element fractionation typically occurs when a brine slowly evaporates and various salt compounds are precipitated in sequence. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 16 Lessons from MERs • Liquid water was present on Mars over geological time scales. • Consistent with subsurface infiltration of water and with surface evaporites. • Crossbedding indicates presences of surface water. • Mars likely had a habitable environment in the past. – How long ago and for how long? – How did the climate evolve to its current water- unstable state? • You really ought to carry a weather station on every mission to the surface. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 17 Phoenix – Polar Ice and Water • Confirmed shallow surface ice. • Perchlorates. • Liquid water? • Some evidence of water exchange with regolith and atmosphere over diurnal cycle. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 18 Phoenix – Polar Ice and Water • Confirmed shallow surface ice. • Perchlorates • Liquid water? • Some evidence of water exchange with regolith and atmosphereLiquid overwater diurnal may be possible and cycle. stable on current Mars!!! 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 19 Lessons from Phoenix • Really interesting polar weather. • Liquid water? • You really ought to carry a complete weather station on every surface mission 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 20 Topography and Mission Meteorology 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 21 Topography and Mission Meteorology Opportunity: Flat with no Met 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 22 Topography and Mission Meteorology VL1: Flat with Meteorology 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 23 Topography and Mission Meteorology VL2: Flat with Meteorology 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 24 Topography and Mission Meteorology Phoenix: Flat with limited Met 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 25 Topography and Mission Meteorology Spirit: Topography with no Met 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 26 Gale: A Region of Complex Topography With Meteorological Instrumentation (REMS) MSL MSL provides the first opportunity to look at strongly forced mesoscale meteorology 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 27 MSL Science Payload ChemCam Mastcam REMOTE SENSING Mastcam Color and telephoto imaging, video, atmospheric opacity RAD REMS ChemCam Chemical composition; remote micro- imaging DAN CONTACT INSTRUMENTS (ARM) MAHLI Hand-lens color imaging APXS Chemical composition ANALYTICAL LABORATORY (ROVER BODY) MAHLI SAM Chemical and isotopic composition, including APXS organics Brush MARDI Drill / Sieves CheMin Mineralogy Scoop Wheel Base: 2.8 m ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION Height of Deck: 1.1 m MARDI Descent imaging REMS Meteorology / UV Ground Clearance: RAD High-energy radiation 0.66 m DAN Subsurface hydrogen Height of Mast: 2.2 m 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 28 REMS (Rover Environmental Monitoring System) 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 29 Comparison of Gale to VL1 and VL2 Same overall cycle Storm systems largest at VL2 in winter Overall higher diurnal amplitude at Gale 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 30 Synthesis of Observations and Models • Observations validate models. – Where do models do well and where do they do poorly? – Specific measurements needed to identify cause of errors in models. • Models simulate complex physical connection between meteorological parameters. – Can populate incomplete observational records. – Can provide greater meaning/understanding/context. • When properly validated, greater confidence may given to model results at times and places without observations. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 31 MRAMS sol 350: MRAMS sol 543: REMS sols 348-352: dashed lines REMS sols 541-545: dashed lines Why such a large discrepancy at Ls 90? High frequency • Dust? variations likely forced • Poor GCM input? by local/regional • Poor physical circulation. parameterizations? MRAMS sol 53: MRAMS sol 196: Measurements from REMS are REMS sols 51-55: dashed lines REMS sols 195-197: dashed lines largely unable to answer this question. Note the Need to measure atmospheric relative 12-15% forcing in addition to smoothness of diurnal atmospheric response. amplitude! daily signal. 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 32 MRAMS sol 350: MRAMS sol 543: REMS sols 348-352: dots REMS sols 541-545: dots Discrepancy due to albedo and dust loading? MRAMS sol 53: MRAMS sol 196: REMS sols 51-55: dots REMS sols 195-197: dots 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 33 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 34 27 March 2017 ExoMars Workshop -- Rafkin 35 Regional scale crater circulation animations Surface winds and potential temperature Ls 90 Grid 5 Ls 270 Grid 5 temperature temperature Potential Potential Crater air mass is generally much colder than UNIQUE season at Gale. Air mass in crater mixes outside the crater. External air hindered from with the external atmosphere due to strong, cold, entering crater. flushing, northerly flow