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Mars Express radar to be deployed in May (Forwarded)
ESA News
http://www.esa.int 29 April 2005 Mars Express radar to be deployed in May Following green light for the deployment of ESA's Mars Express radar, given in February this year, the radar booms are now planned to be deployed in the first half of May. Once the deployment is successful, the Mars Express MARSIS radar will enable the first European spacecraft to orbit Mars to complement its study of the planet's atmosphere and surface. MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument) is the first antenna of its kind which was also designed to actually look below the surface of Mars at the different layers of material, most notably for water. The deployment of the three MARSIS radar booms is an operation which will take place in three phases, in a window spanning from 2 to 12 May 2005. These operations will be initiated and monitored from ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. Each boom will be deployed separately, with the two 20-metre 'dipole' booms to be unfurled first and the 7-metre 'monopole' boom to follow a few days later. Before each deployment, the spacecraft will be placed in a 'robust' attitude control mode, which will allow it to tumble freely while the boom extends before regaining standard pointing to the Sun and Earth. After each deployment, the control team will conduct a full assessment of the spacecraft status before a decision is taken to proceed with the next phase. The result of each deployment can be assessed only after a series of tests, each taking few days. After the deployment of the three booms, ESA engineers will start the analysis of the complete behaviour of the satellite to be able to confirm the overall success of the operation. The current schedule is subject to changes, because the timing of the complex series of operations cannot be all fixed beforehand. A status report will follow in due course. Once the deployment is complete, MARSIS will undergo three weeks of commissioning before the start of actual science investigations, ready for when one of the prime regions of interest for radar observations comes into the right position through the natural evolution of the spacecraft's orbit. The MARSIS instrument was developed by the University of Rome, Italy, in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, USA. For more information please contact: Fred Jansen, ESA Mars Express Mission Manager E-mail: fjansen @ rssd.esa.int More about... * Mars Express overview http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120379_index_0_m.html * Looking at Mars http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html Related articles * Green light for deployment of ESA's Mars Express radar http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM42PXEM4E_index_0.html * Mars Express latest findings give hints about water loss in the Martian atmosphere http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM75BADFZD_index_0.html * Chances of life are linked to water http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMN3AR1VED_index_0.html * Water on early Mars? http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Exp...K75V9ED_0.html * Orbiter instruments http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Exp...C75V9ED_0.html IMAGE CAPTIONS: [Image 1: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMH4Q2IU7E_index_1.html] The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) on board ESA's Mars Express will employ ground-penetrating radar to map underground water (if it exists) on Mars. Low-frequency waves will be directed towards the planet from a 40-metre long antenna which will be unfurled after Mars Express goes into orbit. The radio waves will be reflected from any surface they encounter. In most cases this will be the surface of Mars, but because low frequencies are used, a significant fraction will travel through the crust to encounter further layers of different material - perhaps even water. Analysis of the echoes produced will reveal much about the composition of the top five kilometres of the crust. [Image 2: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMH4Q2IU7E...html#subhead1] MARSIS main antenna during Mars Express payload tests. One of the two main radar booms is shown here, a 20-metre long hollow cylinder, of 2.5 centimetres diameter, folded up in a box like a concertina (accordion). When the box is opened, the elastic energy of the compressed glass-fibre booms will let them unfold like a jack-in-the-box. Credits: Universität der Bundeswehr - München |
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In message , A. Yee
writes ESA News http://www.esa.int 29 April 2005 Mars Express radar to be deployed in May Following green light for the deployment of ESA's Mars Express radar, given in February this year, the radar booms are now planned to be deployed in the first half of May. Once the deployment is successful, the Mars Express MARSIS radar will enable the first European spacecraft to orbit Mars to complement its study of the planet's atmosphere and surface. MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument) is the first antenna of its kind which was also designed to actually look below the surface of Mars at the different layers of material, most notably for water. The deployment of the three MARSIS radar booms is an operation which will take place in three phases, in a window spanning from 2 to 12 May 2005. These operations will be initiated and monitored from ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. Each boom will be deployed separately, with the two 20-metre 'dipole' booms to be unfurled first and the 7-metre 'monopole' boom to follow a few days later. Obvious (if pessimistic) question - can the system work if one or more booms does not deploy properly? Looking forward to interesting results in June, though :-) -- Remove spam and invalid from address to reply. |
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On a sunny day (Fri, 29 Apr 2005 18:30:21 +0100) it happened Jonathan
Silverlight wrote in : Obvious (if pessimistic) question - can the system work if one or more booms does not deploy properly? Looking forward to interesting results in June, though :-) This looks like 3 antennas perhaps of 1/2 or 1/4 wavelength, as they mention low frequency radar. In that case, if one does not work, and if they transmit and receive with the same boom for each frequency, they just have less data (only reflections for the frequencies that work). However if it recoils and damages the spacecraft, anything can happen. I wonder what the exact frequencies are, and if they 'sweep'. |
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