Aerosols in Martian Atmosphere and Natural Dust Observation (AMANDO). Proposal for the Mars Orbiter Balloon and Rover to Study the Martian Atmosphere, Its Thermal Content, and Its Interaction with the Soil

摘要

A proposal is made to study the Martian atmosphere, its dust (aerosols) content, the influence of dust on the thermal budget of Martian lower atmosphere; variability of suspended aerosols during the day; dust grain mass/size distribution and its variation with altitude (balloon) and dust grain mass distribution as a result of the interaction between Martian atmosphere and soil. The interaction of Martian soil with the atmosphere is performed by studying the distribution of masses of dust grains for different wind conditions, and for different atmospheric temperatures as expected in day and night. The studies are performed by direct analysis of dust impact pulses generated by piezoelectric ceramics and by a bidimensional charge coupled device (CCD) device working at ambient temperature, looking almost along the local vertical. The influence of the solar wind and the ionospheric currents in the Martian soil can be studied by taking magnetometer measurements from other experiments and performing on board fast Fourier transform to have low frequency wave measurements.