المؤلفون: Shi, Erbin¹ (AUTHOR), Zhang, Ruize¹ (AUTHOR), Zeng, Xiaojia¹ (AUTHOR) erbinshi@sdu.edu.cn, Xin, Yanqing¹ (AUTHOR) yqxin@sdu.edu.cn, Ju, Enming¹ (AUTHOR), Ling, Zongcheng¹ (AUTHOR)

المصدر: Remote Sensing. May2024, Vol. 16 Issue 9, p1592. 13p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MAGNESIUM sulfate, *MARTIAN exploration, *DOUBLE salts, *RAMAN lasers, *IMAGING systems

مستخلص: Magnesium sulfate has been widely detected on the surface of Mars. The occurrence of magnesium sulfate and mixed cationic sulfates preserves clues regarding the sedimentary environment, hydrological processes, and climate history of ancient Mars. In this study, seven magnesium sulfate double salts were synthesized in the laboratory using a high-temperature solid phase reaction or slow evaporation of aqueous solutions. The samples were analyzed using X-ray diffraction to confirm their phase and homogeneity. Subsequently, the Raman, mid-infrared spectra, and visible near-infrared spectra of these samples were collected and analyzed. Our results showed that the spectra of the analyzed magnesium sulfate double salts exhibited distinctive spectral features. These laboratory results may provide new insights for the identification of various magnesium sulfate double salts on Mars during the interpretation of in situ data collected by Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), SuperCam, and the ExoMars Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS). In addition, the MIR and VNIR spectra features obtained in this study provide an improved reference and spectra library for decipherment of data sourced from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES), Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), and Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer (MMS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Shu, Xin¹ (AUTHOR) 22210720048@m.fudan.edu.cn, Ye, Hongxia¹ (AUTHOR) yehongxia@fudan.edu.cn

المصدر: Remote Sensing. Apr2024, Vol. 16 Issue 7, p1123. 19p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *HEAT equation, *MARTIAN exploration, *LIGHTING reflectors, *MARS (Planet), *RADAR

مستخلص: The polar regions of Mars, including the South and North Poles, are crucial for studying Martian climate and geological history, as they contain the largest reservoir of subsurface water ice. This study introduces a new approach for reflector detection, which includes radargram denoising to effectively enhance the signal of underground reflectors, peak detection to extract the positions of subsurface stratification from the radar echoes, and peak points connection to form continuous layers. The mapped enhancement denoising process involves a linear brightness adjustment and a fourth-order diffusion equation to enhance the signal of the subsurface layers for effective detection. The subsurface detection extracts the surface and subsurface peak points based on a peak detection algorithm, while using locally window-enhanced peak filtering and Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence mapping to filter out non-stratified peak points. Finally, the layered connection process uses the proximity parameter to connect peak points in the same layer. Applied to multiple SHARAD (Shallow Radar) images at the Martian poles, this algorithm demonstrated a false detection rate below 5%. Compared to other methods, this method has a missed detection rate of less than 5% and, additionally, exhibits fewer discontinuities in layer connectivity. Therefore, this algorithm shows exceptional proficiency and applicability in analyzing the complex subsurface structures of the Martian polar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Xiukuo Sun¹, Shouding Li^1,2 lsdlyh@mail.iggcas.ac.cn, Juan Li^2,3 juanli@mail.iggcas.ac.cn, Yanfang Wu^1,4, Shuo Zhang⁵, Bo Zheng^1,2, Zhaobin Zhang^1,2, Tao Xu^1,2, Xinshuo Chen^1,2, Yiming Diao^1,2, Kereszturi, Akos⁶, Jianguo Yan⁷

المصدر: Frontiers in Astronomy & Space Sciences. 2024, p01-11. 11p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MARTIAN exploration, *MARS (Planet), *MARTIAN surface, *FRACTAL dimensions, *MARTIAN atmosphere

مصطلحات جغرافية: CHINA

مستخلص: The rock characteristic and size-frequency distribution (SFD) on Mars are important for understanding the geologic and geomorphic history of the surface, for evaluating the trafficability of roving, and for planning the potential infrastructure construction. Tianwen-1, China's first autonomous Mars exploration mission, formed an excavated depression during touchdown, which has been the deepest depression on the Martian surface so far compared with others. According to the images captured using the Navigation and Terrain Cameras (NaTeCams) onboard the rover, Zhurong, the SFD of rocks is calculated and compared inside the excavated depression, within and out of the blast zone. For the first time, the rock size distribution inside the excavated depression is obtained, exposing the geological features of the shallow subsurface on Mars at a depth of tens of centimeters, which will surely be important for future drilling missions. It is found that the rock abundance in the depression is smaller than the original abundance on the surface, and the distribution of rocks in the blast zone on the surface is greatly influenced by the touchdown. In addition, based on the fractal dimension of rock sizes, the rocks (>10 mm) at the shallow subsurface of the Zhurong landing site may experience two different geological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Yang, Jing¹ (AUTHOR), Zheng, Dewen² (AUTHOR), Wu, Ying² (AUTHOR) wuying@ies.ac.cn, Chen, Hong¹ (AUTHOR), Yang, Li^1,3 (AUTHOR), Zhang, Bin⁴ (AUTHOR)

المصدر: SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences. Mar2024, Vol. 67 Issue 3, p641-656. 16p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MARTIAN exploration, *JAROSITE, *MARTIAN meteorites, *SULFATE minerals, *MARTIAN surface, *MARTIAN atmosphere, *DIFFUSION kinetics, *RADIOCARBON dating

مستخلص: To accurately determine the chronological framework of climatic variations recorded by various Martian terrains, the absolute ages of Martian events and cratering rate need to be constrained by either in situ dating or returned samples. In situ K-Ar dating is currently a more plausible dating technique as compared with sample return. Jarosite (KFe3[SO4]2[OH]6) is the only confirmed K sulfate mineral that is widely present on Mars, as indicated by in situ detection, orbital remote sensing, and meteorite studies. Jarosite can be used for precise K-Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating. The preservation of jarosite on Mars provides information about the nature and duration of aqueous processes on the Martian surface. Different ages of Martian jarosite represent the key to constraining the transition from Martian surface water activity to arid climatic conditions. This paper summarizes recent advances in our knowledge of the spatial distribution of Martian jarosite, its mineralogical properties and stability on Mars, the Ar diffusion kinetics of jarosite, and the current status of in situ K-Ar dating. Moreover, we examine the key scientific issues to be addressed for in situ K-Ar dating of jarosite and Martian sample return missions, and discuss future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Bețco, Daniel¹ (AUTHOR) daniel.betco@stud.aero.upb.ro, Pârvu, Petrișor-Valentin² (AUTHOR) petrisor.parvu@upb.ro, Ciudin, Sabina¹ (AUTHOR) sabina.ciudin@stud.aero.upb.ro

المصدر: Acta Astronautica. Mar2024, Vol. 216, p55-63. 9p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *CONVOLUTIONAL neural networks, *MARTIAN exploration, *MARS (Planet), *MARTIAN surface, *OPTICAL flow, *ASTRONAUTS, *DUST storms

مستخلص: The interest of science community towards planet Mars has progressively increased in past decades. Rovers are already doing an excellent job in exploring the Martian surface environment and showed that the Red Planet is not suited for life. However, there is a possibility of enabling human exploration by having astronauts take shelter in habitats located within lava tubes, which can provide protection against radiation and dust storms. These tubes are extremely hard to explore with rovers, thus a flying vehicle will be more suitable for such tasks. INGENUITY (Martian helicopter) had already demonstrated that it is possible to fly on Mars by doing small and simple manoeuvres. Based on NASA's design, this article will introduce the development of guidance, navigation, and control operations of a Martian Inspection Drone (MID) that will be capable of finding the lava tube and scan it in real time using a RealSense camera. Linux based system was chosen in the development process, which allow ROS catkin workspace to connect ArduPilot and Gazebo. The navigation is accomplished using a combination of an inertial measurement unit, a camera, and a laser rangefinder. The flight computer runs an optical flow algorithm for control and navigation purpose. Also, a convolutional neural network is used to perform lava tube entrance detection and inspection. • Martian flying drone simulated with ArduPilot, Gazebo and ROS. • Martian environment simulation. • Martian lava tube detection using convolutional neural networks. • Martian lava tube inspection using a realsense camera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Korablev, O. I.¹ (AUTHOR) korab@cosmos.ru, Rodionov, D. S.¹ (AUTHOR) rodionov@cosmos.ru, Zelenyi, L. M.¹ (AUTHOR) lzelenyi@cosmos.ru

المصدر: Solar System Research. Feb2024, Vol. 58 Issue 1, p1-28. 28p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MARTIAN exploration, *ATMOSPHERIC composition, *NEUTRON spectrometers, *RADIATION measurements, *RADIOMETERS, *TELEVISION cameras, *SEISMOMETERS, *MICROWAVE radiometers

الشركة/الكيان: EUROPEAN Space Agency

مستخلص: Scientific objectives, instruments, and measurement program of the scientific instrumentation of the Kazachok stationary landing platform of the State Corporation Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars-2022 project are presented. The scientific objectives of research on the landing platform included the long-term climate monitoring, the studies of the atmospheric composition, the mechanisms for dust lifting and related electrical phenomena, atmosphere–surface interactions, the subsurface water abundance, monitoring the radiation situation, and the study of Mars internal structure. To address these problems, 11 Russian and two European instruments with a total mass of 45 kg were built, tested and integrated into the spacecraft. These include a television camera system, meteorological complexes, a suite for studying dust and related electrical phenomena, optical spectrometers and an analytical complex for studying the atmospheric composition, a microwave radiometer, the neutron and gamma spectrometers for surface research, a seismometer, magnetometers and a Mars proper motion experiment to study its internal structure. Although the ExoMars-2022 project has been discontinued, the scientific objectives of the landing platform have not lost their relevance, and the technical solutions and developments implemented in scientific equipment are of interest and promising for further Mars exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Sun, Xiukuo¹, Li, Shouding^1,2 lsdlyh@mail.iggcas.ac.cn, Li, Juan^2,3 juanli@mail.iggcas.ac.cn, Wu, Yanfang^1,4, Zhang, Shuo⁵, Zheng, Bo^1,2, Zhang, Zhaobin^1,2, Xu, Tao^1,2, Chen, Xinshuo^1,2, Diao, Yiming^1,2, Kereszturi, Akos⁶, Yan, Jianguo⁷

المصدر: Frontiers in Astronomy & Space Sciences. 2024, p1-10. 10p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MARTIAN exploration, *MARS (Planet), *MARTIAN surface, *FRACTAL dimensions, *MARTIAN atmosphere

مصطلحات جغرافية: CHINA

مستخلص: The rock characteristic and size-frequency distribution (SFD) on Mars are important for understanding the geologic and geomorphic history of the surface, for evaluating the trafficability of roving, and for planning the potential infrastructure construction. Tianwen-1, China's first autonomous Mars exploration mission, formed an excavated depression during touchdown, which has been the deepest depression on the Martian surface so far compared with others. According to the images captured using the Navigation and Terrain Cameras (NaTeCams) onboard the rover, Zhurong, the SFD of rocks is calculated and compared inside the excavated depression, within and out of the blast zone. For the first time, the rock size distribution inside the excavated depression is obtained, exposing the geological features of the shallow subsurface on Mars at a depth of tens of centimeters, which will surely be important for future drilling missions. It is found that the rock abundance in the depression is smaller than the original abundance on the surface, and the distribution of rocks in the blast zone on the surface is greatly influenced by the touchdown. In addition, based on the fractal dimension of rock sizes, the rocks (>10 mm) at the shallow subsurface of the Zhurong landing site may experience two different geological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Osterhout, Jeffrey T.¹ (AUTHOR) jeffrey.t.osterhout@jpl.nasa.gov, Farley, Kenneth A.^1,2 (AUTHOR), Wadhwa, Meenakshi^1,3 (AUTHOR), Treffkorn, Jonathan² (AUTHOR), Kulczycki, Eric¹ (AUTHOR)

المصدر: Astrobiology. Jan2024, Vol. 24 Issue 1, p36-43. 8p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MARTIAN exploration, *MARTIAN surface, *LEAK detectors, *TUBES, *MARS (Planet), *HELIUM, *MASS spectrometers

الشركة/الكيان: UNITED States. National Aeronautics & Space Administration

مستخلص: The sample tubes on board NASA's Perseverance rover are designed to contain rocks, regolith, and atmospheric gases and are hermetically sealed on the surface of Mars to minimize sample loss, alteration, and contamination. Following a robust testing program during mission development, it was determined that the helium (He) leak rates of flight-like sample tubes sealed under a range of conditions were typically no greater than ∼10−10 standard cubic centimeters per second (scc/s); leak rates below this value could not be measured since this is the detection limit of commercially available He leak detectors. This limit was adequate to meet mission requirements. However, some scientific objectives could be compromised by sample tube leak rates even below 10−10 scc/s, thus motivating a more sensitive technique for establishing leak rates. This study investigated He leak rates on six flight-like sample tubes using a static mode mass spectrometer. Room temperature He leak rates of the six sample tubes ranged from ∼8.8 × 10−17 to ∼4.6 × 10−14 scc/s. One sample tube was analyzed at eight different temperatures, ranging from -51°C to +42°C, and yielded He leak rates correlated with temperature that varied from ∼1.7 × 10−15 to ∼1.4 × 10−13 scc/s, respectively. Our results confirm and extend previous findings demonstrating that the Mars 2020 sample tube seals are likely to be very leak-tight, with leak rates <10−13 scc/s. These leak rates are sufficiently low that the impact of gas egress or ingress is expected to be negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Edwards, Christine M.¹ (AUTHOR) christine.m.edwards@lmco.com, Marcinkowski, Adam¹ (AUTHOR) adam.marcinkowski@lmco.com, Gebhardt, Ariel¹ (AUTHOR) ariel.m.gebhardt@lmco.com, Reed, Kyle¹ (AUTHOR) kyle.reed@lmco.com, Vicuna, Katlynn¹ (AUTHOR) katlynn.m.vicuna@lmco.com, Connolly, Daniel¹ (AUTHOR) daniel.p.connolly@lmco.com, Cichan, Timothy¹ (AUTHOR) timothy.cichan@lmco.com

المصدر: Acta Astronautica. Dec2023, Vol. 213, p578-587. 10p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *MARTIAN exploration, *MARTIAN surface, *MARS (Planet), *ASTRONAUTS, *HUMAN space flight, *INFRASTRUCTURE (Economics), *SPACE flight to the moon, *MARTIAN atmosphere, *MARTIAN meteorites

الشركة/الكيان: LOCKHEED Martin 834951691 LMT

مستخلص: As part of the Artemis era of space exploration, space agencies will be working together with their industry partners to establish systems and infrastructure that enable sustained Lunar missions and develop capabilities for Mars. Lockheed Martin has a longstanding history of designing, building, and operating systems for deep space applications, from Viking to Orion. Lockheed Martin develops concepts, trades, and early system designs for Moon and Mars exploration to enable future missions. In 2016, Lockheed Martin presented a vision for achieving crewed exploration of Mars. Known as Mars Base Camp (MBC), this design reference mission envisioned a crewed vehicle in Martian orbit from which astronauts could perform excursions to Phobos and Deimos and perform telerobotic exploration of the Martian surface, including sample return. This concept served as an "existence proof" for a novel, practical, and affordable path to enable human exploration of the Martian system. In 2017, an update was published that included the production of propellant from water and a single-stage fully reusable Mars lander concept. Then in 2021, Lockheed Martin introduced a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) configuration of Mars Base Camp, a technology that will be greatly enabling for crewed missions to Mars. This paper matures the design of the NTP configuration of Mars Base Camp and explores the Mars mission capabilities that the NTP technology will enable. These investigations include optimized trajectories for faster transit to Mars and an analysis of abort scenarios that are made possible by the high thrust and performance of NTP. The results provide insight into the performance and capabilities that are realized when NTP technology is matured and integrated into a Mars transit vehicle. The paper will also describe initial surface infrastructure capabilities that significantly enhance sortie science operations, including mobility and power. The resulting updated Mars Base Camp serves as an example of what is possible with current technologies and technologies under development. The MBC reference mission builds on the capabilities that will be developed and demonstrated through Artemis missions, enabling a viable, sustainable long-term Mars exploration program, with the first crewed Mars mission possible in the 2030s. • Matures design of nuclear thermal propulsion configuration of crewed Mars mission • Explores Mars mission capabilities and trajectories enabled by nuclear propulsion • Describes initial infrastructure to support sustainable long-term Mars exploration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

المؤلفون: Nizel, Norbert¹ (AUTHOR) norbert.nizel@gmail.com, Szajerski, Piotr² (AUTHOR), Maciejewska, Magdalena¹ (AUTHOR), Bieliński, Dariusz M.¹ (AUTHOR), Anyszka, Rafał¹ (AUTHOR) rafal.anyszka@p.lodz.pl

المصدر: Advances in Space Research. Nov2023, Vol. 72 Issue 10, p4449-4460. 12p.

مصطلحات موضوعية: *RUBBER, *MARTIAN exploration, *SILICONE rubber, *CARBON-black, *FREE radical scavengers, *IONIZING radiation

مستخلص: • BR/VMQ blends filled with carbon black are promising compounds for Mars environment applications. • Radiation resistance of the CBs-filled BR/VMQ blends is very high allowing for long-term utilization on Mars. • Low glass transition temperatures of the BR and VMQ allow the application of the blends in most of Mars' temperature range. A growing interest in Mars exploration calls for new solutions as an increasing mass of rovers causes their metal alloy wheels to experience serious damage. Martian conditions including temperatures as low as −120 °C and destructive ionizing radiation effectively rule out rubber materials currently used on Earth. This study aims to design and test rubber compounds capable of withstanding harsh Martian conditions while providing good damping properties and remaining elastic in extremely low temperatures. The prepared compounds contained two elastomers – butadiene (BR) and silicone rubber (VMQ) – which both show appropriately low glass transition temperatures. Mixing of the rubbers provided blends combining properties desirable for Martian applications. For better miscibility and chemical coupling trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) compatibilizer containing three thiol groups was incorporated. Additionally, to improve mechanical properties and as a free radical scavenger, carbon black (CB) fillers were used. The properties of compounds with and without the addition of the compatibilizer were evaluated. Obtained data shows the great potential of the BR/VMQ blends for future Martian applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]