UK Goes Back to Mars with NASA (Forwarded)

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council
Swindon, U.K.

26 July 2005

UK Goes Back to Mars with NASA

On August 10th 2005 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will be
launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida beginning its journey to the red
planet. For scientists from Oxford, Cardiff and Reading it will be an
intense time as it will be their third attempt to get their instrument
to Mars onboard a NASA spacecraft.

The main aim of the MRO mission is to seek out the history of water on
Mars. This will be accomplished by a suite of six science instruments, 3
engineering experiments and 2 science facility experiments. They will
zoom in for extreme close up images of the Martian surface, analyse
minerals, look for subsurface water, trace how much dust and water are
distributed in the atmosphere and monitor the daily global weather.

UK scientists, from Oxford, Cardiff and Reading Universities are
involved in the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instrument -- essentially a
weather satellite for Mars. It will profile the atmosphere of Mars
detecting vertical variation in temperature, dust and water vapour
concentration.

Professor Fred Taylor from Oxford University, who is a co-investigator
on the Mars Climate Sounder, explains about why this mission means so
much to his team. "The Mars Climate Sounder is an updated version of a
previous instrument (the Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer) that
flew to Mars on NASA's Mars Observer and Mars Climate Sounder missions
in 1992 and 1999 respectively. Both of these missions were lost due to
technical problems with the spacecraft, so this is a case of third time
lucky, we hope!"

He adds, "The instruments are based on Earth observation instruments
developed at Oxford in the 1980's and early 1990's with a significant
amount of the hardware being built in the UK at Oxford, in collaboration
with Cardiff and Reading Universities. The goal of the experiment is to
measure temperature, water vapour and dust in the Martian atmosphere
with high resolution and full global coverage over at least one full
seasonal cycle (2 Earth years). The data will be analysed using computer
models of the Martian climate, developed in a collaboration between
Oxford University and Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD) in
Paris over the last 20 years."

By feeding the Mars data into the model, diagnostics, and even
forecasts, of the Martian climate will be able to be made -- using
similar methods to those used in monitoring meteorology on Earth. This
information will provide a much more detailed picture of the weather
systems on Mars, especially the characteristics of the dust storms, all
of which will be critical research for future lander missions.

Once reaching Mars in March 2006 MRO will undergo a 6 month period of
"aerobraking" which will slow the spacecraft down in the Martian
atmosphere taking it into a lower circular orbit for science data
collection. Whilst the science operations are scheduled for 2 years the
orbiter will be used for further data communication relay activities --
up until December 2010. However, there will be enough propellant onboard
to remain operational for a further 5 years in Mars orbit -- if required
to support future missions.

The UK already has a presence at Mars with UK scientists involved in
three of the seven instruments on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars
Express mission, which has been successfully orbiting Mars since
December 2003. Since science operations began a wealth of data has been
returned (including signs of a frozen sea and the detection of methane
in the Martian atmosphere) along with many amazing images of Martian
surface features. Data from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will compliment
that from Mars Express -- with the former as the name suggests,
providing more detailed data for identifying potential future landing
sites for robotic and manned missions.

Professor Keith Mason, the incoming Chief Executive of the Particle
Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) said, "Mars continues to
be the prime focus for the next phase of planetary exploration both in
the US and Europe. Through involvement in ESA's Aurora programme UK
space scientists and industrialists will play a key role in future
robotic missions including in-situ analysis of the Martian soil". Prof.
Mason added," The scientific returns from each mission continue to
increase our knowledge of the Red Planet and it's an exciting prospect
that Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter could potentially help relay data from
future European missions, confirming the international collaboration of
space exploration".

Notes to Editors:

NASA Press Briefings

NASA are holding a series of briefings in the lead up to launch.

Monday 8th August: pre launch briefing at Kennedy Space Center (6 pm
BST, 1 pm EDT). To include Professor Keith Mason, PPARC Chief Executive.
Further details tbc.

Wednesday 10th August: NASA TV coverage of the launch begins at 1030 am
BST (0530 am EDT) with launch scheduled for 1254 pm BST (0754 am EDT).

All briefings will be televised on NASA TV,
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasat..._Breaking.html

Images and animations

* NASA website
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery/
* PPARC website
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/mro_images.asp
* Animations
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery/video/

NASA PR
Dolores Beasley, NASA HQ
Tel: 1 202 358 1753.

Guy Webster, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Tel: 1 818 354 6278.

UK PR
Gill Ormrod, PPARC Press office
Tel: 01793 442012

UK Involvement and science contacts

UK involvement is with the Mars Climate Sounder which will observe the
temperature, humidity, and dust content of the Martian atmosphere,
making measurements that are needed to understand Mars' current weather
and climate, as well as potential variations that may occur.

Oxford University
Co-investigators on the Mars Climate Sounder
Providing filter units for telescopes A and B on the Mars Climate
Sounder and development of a world class model of the Martian climate,
in collaboration with Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD) in
Paris to enable complex analysis of weather systems on Mars.
Professor Fred Taylor, Oxford University
Tel: 01855 272933

University of Reading
Design and manufacture of the infrared optical interference filters for
the focal plane detector array on the Mars Climate Sounder instrument in
collaboration with Oxford.
Dr Gary Hawkins, University of Reading
Tel: 0118 378 8224

Cardiff University
Cardiff have supplied and mounted all of the filters for telescope B.
The filters used for telescope B are a relatively new technology,
usually applied to much lower frequencies so have had to be specially
developed for use on MCS at the higher frequencies required. The
application of this new filter technology has meant that the final
instrument can be much smaller as for the first time, these filters can
be manufactured to any shape and size whereas before (MCO) they were
only available on larger circular mounts. Cardiff will also be working
with Oxford in analysing data from MCS.
Professor Peter Ade, Cardiff University
Tel: 029 20 874643

How Mars Climate Sounder works

A sounder is a type of instrument that measures changes in atmospheric
temperature or composition with height. Mars Climate Sounder "sees" in 9
channels across the visible and infrared ranges of the electromagnetic
spectrum. The visible range is the equivalent of what the human eye can
see. Infrared corresponds roughly to heat, so seeing in infrared would
be similar to "seeing" how hot something is. One channel in the visible
and near infrared range (0.3-3.0 microns) is used to understand how
solar energy interacts with the atmosphere and the surface, which helps
us understand the martian climate. Eight channels in the thermal
infrared range (12-50 microns) are used to measure temperature,
pressure, water vapor, and dust. These measurements are what constitute
weather and climate.

Mars Climate Sounder looks at the horizon of Mars from orbit to observe
the atmosphere in vertical slices, with measurements every 5 kilometers
(3 miles) down in each slice through the atmosphere. These "profiles"
are combined into daily, three-dimensional global weather maps for both
daytime and nighttime. These weather maps will show temperature,
pressure, humidity, and dust in various layers of the atmosphe the
same type of information meteorologists use to understand and predict
both weather and climate here on Earth. The Principal Investigator (lead
scientist) for Mars Climate Sounder is Daniel McCleese from the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology.

Launch

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to launch on August 10th (12:54
pm BST/7:54 am EDT) on an ATLAS V-401 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This
particular launcher was chosen because it provides the performance
needed to fly a large spacecraft to Mars in the 2005 launch period.

Although the geometry of Earth and Mars permit missions to be launched
very two years, the 2005 mission requires more performance than for 2003
and 2007 launch dates given the position of the planets in their orbits.
In addition, this spacecraft is heavier than previous Mars missions.

Mission Timeline

10th Aug 05: Launch (window from 10th-30th August)
Aug 05-Mar 06: Cruise -- voyage through Space to Mars
Mar 06: Approaching the Red Planet
Mar 06: Capturing the spacecraft into orbit around Mars
Mar 06-Nov 06: Aerobraking -- slowing down in the Martian atmosphere and
setting into a lower, circular orbit for science data collecting
Nov 06-Nov 08: Science operations -- gathering information about Mars
through the day to day activities of the orbiter
Nov 08 -Dec 10: Using the orbiter to communicate with other landed missions

Should NASA continue to need it, the orbiter will be able to continue
providing relay services for as much as another 5 years beyond its
planned end date.

Science Objectives

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will characterise the surface, subsurface
and atmosphere of Mars, and will identify potential landing sites for
future missions.

Science Goals

* To determine whether life ever arose on Mars
* To characterise the climate of Mars
* To characterise the geology of Mars
* To prepare for human exploration

Science Instruments

During its two year primary science mission, MRO will conduct 8
different science investigations at Mars. The investigations are
functionally divided into three purposes: global mapping, regional
surveying and high resolution targeting of specific spots on the
surface. The spacecraft carries six science instruments, three
engineering instruments and two more science-facility experiments.

Cameras
HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment)
Principal Investigator: Alfred S McEwen, University of Arizona

This visible camera can reveal small scale objects in the debris
blankets of mysterious gullies and details of geologic structure of
canyons, craters and layered deposits.

CTX (Context Camera)
Principal Investigator: Michael Malin, Malin Space Science Systems

This camera will provide wide area views to help provide a context for
high resolution analysis of key spots on Mars provided by HiRISE and CRISM.

MARCI (Mars Colour Imager)
Principal Investigator - Michael Malin, Malin Space Science Systems
This weather camera will monitor clouds and dust storms.

Spectrometer
CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars)
Principal Investigator: Scott Murchie, John Hopkins University

This instrument splits visible and near infrared light of its images
into hundreds of "colours" that identify minerals, especially those
likely formed in the presence of water, in surface areas on Mars not
much bigger than a football field.

Radiometer
MCS (Mars Climate Sounder)
Principal Investigator: Daniel J McCleese, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This atmospheric profiler will detect vertical variations of
temperature, dust and water vapour concentrations in the Martian atmosphere.

Radar
SHARAD (Shallow Radar)
Principal Investigator: Enrico Flamini, ASI, Washington University,
Alenia Spazio, University of Rome-INFOCOM

This sounding radar will probe beneath the Martian surface to see if
water ice is present at depths greater than 1 metre.

Engineering instruments

MRO will carry three instruments that will assist in spacecraft
navigation and communications.

Electra UHF Communications and Navigation Package
Principal Investigator: Eric Schwartzbaum

Electra allows the spacecraft to act as a communications relay between
the Earth and landed crafts on Mars that may not have sufficient radio
power to communicate directly with Earth by themselves.

Optical Navigation Camera
Principal Investigator: Steve Synnott, Samad Hayati, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory

This camera is being tested for improved navigation capability for
future missions. If it performs well, similar cameras placed on orbiters
of the future would be able to serve as high precision interplanetary
"eyes" to guide incoming spacecraft as they near Mars.

Ka-band Telecommunications Experiment Package
Principal Investigator: Faramaz Davarian, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

MRO will test the use of a radio frequency called Ka-band to demonstrate
the potential for greater performance in communications using
significantly less power.

Science Facility Experiments

Two additional science investigations will be carried out using
engineering data.

Gravity Field Investigation Package
Principal Investigator: Maria Zuber, MIT, Goddard Space Flight Center

By tracking the orbiter in the primary science phase, team members will
be able to map the gravity field of Mars to understand the geology of
the surface and near-surface and the geophysical processes that produce
these land features. For example, analysis could reveal how the planet's
mass is redistributed as the Martian polar caps form and dissipate
seasonally.

Atmospheric Structure Investigation Accelerometers
Principal Investigator: Gerald Keating, George Washington University,
NASA/Langley Research Center
Data will be collected from accelerometers. During aerobraking, the
accelerometers will help scientists understand the structure of the
Martian atmosphere.

Websites

* NASA -- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
* ESA -- Mars Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/
* UK role in Mars Express
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/Press/mexbriefing.asp
* UK -- Europe's future Mars options
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/rel38.asp
* ESA -- Aurora
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/

About PPARC,
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Ap/intro.asp