The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Mission

J. A. Rodríguez‐Manfredi(Centro de Astrobiología), Manuel de la Torre Juárez(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Alonso(Airbus (Spain)), V. Apéstigue(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), Ignacio Arruego(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), Teresa Atienza(Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), D. Banfield(Cornell University), Justin Boland(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Megan Carrera, Luís Castañer(Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), J. Ceballos(Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla), H. Chen‐Chen(University of the Basque Country), A. Cobos(Airbus (Spain)), P. G. Conrad(Carnegie Institution for Science), Elizabeth Córdoba-Lanús(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), T. del Río‐Gaztelurrutia(University of the Basque Country), Á. Vicente‐Retortillo(Centro de Astrobiología), Manuel Domínguez-Pumar(Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), S. Espejo(Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla), Alberto González Fairén(Centro de Astrobiología), A. Fernández-Palma, Ricardo Ferrándiz(Centro de Astrobiología), F. Ferri(University of Padua), Erik Fischer(University of Michigan), A. García-Manchado(Airbus (Spain)), Miriam García‐Villadangos(Centro de Astrobiología), María Genzer(Finnish Meteorological Institute), Sixto Giménez(Centro de Astrobiología), Javier Gómez‐Elvira(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), Felipe Gómez(Centro de Astrobiología), Scott D. Guzewich(Goddard Space Flight Center), Ari‐Matti Harri(Finnish Meteorological Institute), C. D. Hernández(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Maria Hieta(Finnish Meteorological Institute), R. Hueso(University of the Basque Country), Iina Jaakonaho(Finnish Meteorological Institute), J. J. Jiménez(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), V. Jiménez(Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), A. Larman, Robin M. Leiter(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Lepinette(Centro de Astrobiología), M. T. Lemmon(Space Science Institute), Genevieve Lopez(Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), S.N. Madsen(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), T. Mäkinen(Finnish Meteorological Institute), M. Marín(Centro de Astrobiología), Javier Martín-Soler(Centro de Astrobiología), Germán Martínez(Lunar and Planetary Institute), A. Molina(Centro de Astrobiología), Luis Mora‐Sotomayor(Centro de Astrobiología), Jose F. Moreno-Alvarez(Airbus (Spain)), Sara Navarro(Centro de Astrobiología), Claire Newman(Aeolis Research (United States)), Cristina Ortega, M. C. Parrondo(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), V. Peinado(Centro de Astrobiología), Arthur Dela Peña(Airbus (Spain)), Isabel Pérez-Grande(Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), S. Pérez‐Hoyos(University of the Basque Country), Jorge Pla‐García(Centro de Astrobiología), Jouni Polkko(Finnish Meteorological Institute), Marina Postigo(Centro de Astrobiología), O. Prieto‐Ballesteros(Centro de Astrobiología), Scot Rafkin(Southwest Research Institute), Miguel Ramos(Universidad de Alcalá), M. I. Richardson(Aeolis Research (United States)), J. Romeral(Centro de Astrobiología), C. Romero(Centro de Astrobiología), Kirby Runyon(Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), Alfonso Saiz‐Lopez(Instituto de Química Física Blas Cabrera), A. Sánchez‐Lavega(University of the Basque Country), I. Sard, J. T. Schofield(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Eduardo Sebastián(Centro de Astrobiología), M. D. Smith(Goddard Space Flight Center), R. Sullivan(Cornell University), L. K. Tamppari(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. D. Thompson(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Daniel Toledo(Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial), F. Torrero(Airbus (Spain)), J. Torres(Centro de Astrobiología), R. Urquí(Centro de Astrobiología), T. Velasco(Airbus (Spain)), Daniel Viúdez‐Moreiras(Centro de Astrobiología), S. Zurita(Centro de Astrobiología), The MEDA team
Space Science Reviews
April 1, 2021
10.1007/s11214-021-00816-9
Cited by 134Open Access
Full Text

Abstract

NASA's Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples to measure atmospheric temperature at ∼1.5 m and ∼0.5 m above the surface, a set of thermopiles to characterize the thermal IR brightness temperatures of the surface and the lower atmosphere. MEDA adds a radiation and dust sensor to monitor the optical atmospheric properties that can be used to infer bulk aerosol physical properties such as particle size distribution, non-sphericity, and concentration. The MEDA package and its scientific purpose are described in this document as well as how it responded to the calibration tests and how it helps prepare for the human exploration of Mars. A comparison is also presented to previous environmental monitoring payloads landed on Mars on the Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, MSL, and InSight spacecraft.

Related Papers

No related papers found

Powered by citation graph analysis