Long-Term Observations of the Evolution of the Southern Seasonal Cap of Mars: Neutron Measurements by the HEND Instrument onboard the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft

摘要

We present the results of five-year observations of the southern seasonal cap of Mars based on neutron spectroscopy of the surface fulfilled by the Russian HEND instrument onboard the NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The numerical modeling of the observational data allowed us to reconstruct the curves of the variations of the total mass of the southern seasonal cap of Mars for different years (three Martian years) and to find the year-to-year variations of the seasonal cycle.