Orbiter

Abstract: [1] The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is a hyperspectral imager on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. CRISM consists of three subassemblies, a gimbaled Optical Sensor Unit (OSU), a Data Processing Unit (DPU), and the Gimbal Motor Electronics (GME). CRISM's objectives are (1) to map the entire surface using a subset of bands to characterize crustal mineralogy, (2) to map the mineralogy of key areas at high spectral and spatial resolution, and (3) to measure spatial and seasonal variations in the atmosphere. These objectives are addressed using three major types of observations. In multispectral mapping mode, with the OSU pointed at planet nadir, data are collected at a subset of 72 wavelengths covering key mineralogic absorptions and binned to pixel footprints of 100 or 200 m/pixel. Nearly the entire planet can be mapped in this fashion. In targeted mode the OSU is scanned to remove most along-track motion, and a region of interest is mapped at full spatial and spectral resolution (15–19 m/pixel, 362–3920 nm at 6.55 nm/channel). Ten additional abbreviated, spatially binned images are taken before and after the main image, providing an emission phase function (EPF) of the site for atmospheric study and correction of surface spectra for atmospheric effects. In atmospheric mode, only the EPF is acquired. Global grids of the resulting lower data volume observations are taken repeatedly throughout the Martian year to measure seasonal variations in atmospheric properties. Raw, calibrated, and map-projected data are delivered to the community with a spectral library to aid in interpretation.

Abstract: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) and Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) are on the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The WAC is a 7-color push-frame camera (100 and 400 m/pixel visible and UV, respectively), while the two NACs are monochrome narrow-angle linescan imagers (0.5 m/pixel). The primary mission of LRO is to obtain measurements of the Moon that will enable future lunar human exploration. The overarching goals of the LROC investigation include landing site identification and certification, mapping of permanently polar shadowed and sunlit regions, meter-scale mapping of polar regions, global multispectral imaging, a global morphology base map, characterization of regolith properties, and determination of current impact hazards.

Abstract: More than three years of high-resolution (1.5-20 m/pixel) photographic observations of the surface of Mars have dramatically changed our view of that planet. Among the most important observations and interpretations derived therefrom are that much of Mars, at least to depths of several kilometers, is layered; that substantial portions of the planet have experienced burial and subsequent exhumation; that layered and massive units, many kilometers thick, appear to reflect an ancient period of large-scale erosion and deposition within what are now the ancient heavily cratered regions of Mars; and that processes previously unsuspected, including gully-forming fluid action and burial and exhumation of large tracts of land, have operated within near-contemporary times. These and many other attributes of the planet argue for a complex geology and complicated history.

Abstract: The MAVEN spacecraft launched in November 2013, arrived at Mars in September 2014, and completed commissioning and began its one-Earth-year primary science mission in November 2014 The orbiter’s science objectives are to explore the interactions of the Sun and the solar wind with the Mars magnetosphere and upper atmosphere, to determine the structure of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere and the processes controlling it, to determine the escape rates from the upper atmosphere to space at the present epoch, and to measure properties that allow us to extrapolate these escape rates into the past to determine the total loss of atmospheric gas to space through time These results will allow us to determine the importance of loss to space in changing the Mars climate and atmosphere through time, thereby providing important boundary conditions on the history of the habitability of Mars The MAVEN spacecraft contains eight science instruments (with nine sensors) that measure the energy and particle input from the Sun into the Mars upper atmosphere, the response of the upper atmosphere to that input, and the resulting escape of gas to space In addition, it contains an Electra relay that will allow it to relay commands and data between spacecraft on the surface and Earth