Planetary Science at RAL

MARS

Our Mars Missions

• We are currently testing the detectors which are our contribution to ASPERA, the Swedish led Neutral Imager on Mars Express, the new ESA mission to Mars.
• The group had a small hardware involvement in the recently launched Japanese Planet-B ( now called NOZOMI ) mission to Mars. Mars, the next planet to the Earth in the solar system, is has a quite different space and aerodynamic environment from the Earth. Recent studies have revealed that ancient Mars had much more water than it has now, and the water-loss process from this relatively cold planet is one of the big issues in solar-system science. The 15 scientific instruments on Planet-B are expected to give us many clues to this problem. The Planet-B is one of the smallest spacecraft ever flown to Mars.

Science

• The Surface features of Mars show clear evidence of water in the past. There is none on the surface now.
• Where has the water on Mars gone?

• Near-Mars space is very different from near-Earth space. Mars has no magnetic field and so behaves like a large comet.
• So the solar wind slowly erodes Mars' atmosphere.
• Is this where the water went?

RAL Interest

ASPERA is a neutral atom imager selected for the Mars Express mission

• A neutral atom imager can directly image the erosion on a planetary scale.
• RAL is supplying the detectors for this instrument.
• The MEXPOS at RAL is responsible for Mars Express Scientific Operations
• This is the only UK hardware involvement approved for Mars Express

Links

• ASPERA
• Swedish IRF ASPERA Site
• ESA ASPERA site
• NOZOMI

Mars Background Facts

Go to Nine Planets site for information about the Mars.

Contacts

Manuel Grande, and Martin Carter are currently studying Mars at RAL .

Return to the Planets and Space Plasmas Group Homepage

This work is funded by

the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.