ExoMars Atmospheric Mars Entry and Landing Investigations and Analysis (AMELIA)

The entry, descent and landing of Schiaparelli, the ExoMars Entry, descent and landing Demonstrator Module (EDM), offered a rare (once-per-mission) opportunity for in situ investigations of the martian environment over a wide altitude range. The aim of the ExoMars AMELIA experiment was to exploit the Entry, Descent and Landing System (EDLS) engineering measurements for scientific investigations of Mars’ atmosphere and surface. Here we present the simulations, modelling and the planned investigations prior to the Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) event that took place on 19th October 2016. Despite the unfortunate conclusion of the Schiaparelli mission, flight data recorded during the entry and the descent until the loss of signal, have been recovered. These flight data, although limited and affected by transmission interruptions and malfunctions, are essential for investigating the anomaly and validating the EDL operation, but can also contribute towards the partial achievement of AMELIA science objectives.

[1]  Athar Yawar,et al.  Icarus , 2017, The Lancet.

[2]  Francesco Angrilli,et al.  Huygens probe entry trajectory and attitude estimated simultaneously with Titan atmospheric structure by Kalman filtering , 2008 .

[3]  D. Catling,et al.  Observations of atmospheric tides on Mars at the season and latitude of the Phoenix atmospheric entry , 2010 .

[4]  A. Vasavada,et al.  Reconstruction of Atmospheric Properties from Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing , 2014 .

[5]  John C. Pearl,et al.  Thermal Emission Spectrometer results: Mars atmospheric thermal structure and aerosol distribution , 2001 .

[6]  A. Spiga,et al.  Martian mesoscale and microscale wind variability of relevance for dust lifting , 2010 .

[7]  A. Seiff.  Mars atmospheric winds indicated by motion of the Viking Landers during parachute descent , 1993 .

[8]  A. Aboudan,et al.  The DREAMS Experiment Onboard the Schiaparelli Module of the ExoMars 2016 Mission: Design, Performances and Expected Results , 2018, Space Science Reviews.

[9]  Juan R. Cruz,et al.  Entry, Descent, and Landing Performance of the Mars Phoenix Lander , 2008 .

[10]  Stephen R. Lewis,et al.  A climate database for Mars , 1999 .

[11]  Paul Withers.  Trajectory and atmospheric structure from entry probes: Demonstration of a real-time reconstruction technique using a simple direct-to-Earth radio link , 2010 .

[12]  J. Schofield,et al.  Results of the Mars Pathfinder atmospheric structure investigation , 1999 .

[13]  P. Desai,et al.  Mars Phoenix Entry, Descent, and Landing Trajestory and Atmosphere Reconstruction , 2011 .

[14]  Michael D. Smith,et al.  Atmospheric entry profiles from the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity , 2006 .

[15]  David A. Paige,et al.  Mars Climate Sounder: An investigation of thermal and water vapor structure, dust and condensate distributions in the atmosphere, and energy balance of the polar regions , 2007 .

[16]  Stephen R. Lewis,et al.  Correction to: ‘Structure and dynamics of the convective boundary layer on Mars as inferred from large‐eddy simulations and remote‐sensing measurements’ , 2010 .

[17]  L. Montabone,et al.  Interannual variability of Martian dust storms in assimilation of several years of Mars global surveyor observations , 2005 .

[18]  Stephen R. Lewis,et al.  Assimilation of thermal emission spectrometer atmospheric data during the Mars Global Surveyor aerobraking period , 2007 .

[19]  F. Forget,et al.  The martian atmosphere in the region of Hellas basin as observed by the planetary Fourier spectrometer (PFS-MEX) , 2005 .

[20]  A. Seiff,et al.  Structure of Mars' Atmosphere up to 100 Kilometers from the Entry Measurements of Viking 2 , 1976, Science.

[21]  G. R. Wilson,et al.  The atmosphere structure and meteorology instrument on the Mars Pathfinder lander , 1997 .

[22]  Stephen R. Lewis,et al.  Improved general circulation models of the Martian atmosphere from the surface to above 80 km , 1999 .

[23]  S. Debei,et al.  In situ measurements of the physical characteristics of Titan's environment , 2005, Nature.

[24]  P. Withers,et al.  Atmospheric studies from the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing atmospheric structure reconstruction , 2016 .

[25]  A. Gülhan,et al.  Combined Instrumentation Package COMARS+ for the ExoMars Schiaparelli Lander , 2018 .

[26]  D. Plettemeier,et al.  The vertical profile of winds on Titan , 2005, Nature.

[27]  Juan R. Cruz,et al.  Entry, Descent, and Landing Performance of the Mars Phoenix Lander , 2008 .

[28]  A. Seiff,et al.  Structure of the atmosphere of Mars in summer at mid-latitudes , 1977 .

[29]  Christopher D. Karlgaard,et al.  Mars Entry Atmospheric Data System Trajectory Reconstruction Algorithms and Flight Results , 2013 .

[30]  E. Millour,et al.  The Mars Climate Database (MCD version 5.2) , 2015 .

[31]  Stephen R. Lewis,et al.  Structure and dynamics of the convective boundary layer on Mars as inferred from large‐eddy simulations and remote‐sensing measurements , 2010 .

[32]  V. V. Kerzhanovich.  Mars 6: Improved analysis of the descent module measurements , 1977 .

[33]  P. Withers.  A smoothing technique for improving atmospheric reconstruction for planetary entry probes , 2013 .

[34]  Jeffrey R. Barnes,et al.  General circulation model simulations of the Mars Pathfinder atmospheric structure investigation/meteorology data , 1999 .

[35]  L. Christophorou.  Science , 2018, Emerging Dynamics: Science, Energy, Society and Values.

[36]  Alvin Seiff,et al.  Use of entry vehicle responses to define the properties of the Mars atmosphere. , 1965 .

[37]  Gonzalo Blanco,et al.  ExoMars 2016: Schiaparelli coasting, entry and descent post flight mission analysis , 2018 .

[38]  Christopher D. Karlgaard,et al.  Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI): Complete Flight Data Set , 2014 .

[39]  L. Montabone,et al.  Reconstructing the weather on Mars at the time of the MERs and Beagle 2 landings , 2006 .

[40]  Francesco Angrilli,et al.  Huygens probe entry dynamic model and accelerometer data analysis , 2008 .

[41]  Francois Forget,et al.  A new model to simulate the Martian mesoscale and microscale atmospheric circulation: Validation and first results , 2009 .

[42]  S. Debei,et al.  ExoMars 2016 Schiaparelli Module Trajectory and Atmospheric Profiles Reconstruction , 2018, Space Science Reviews.

[43]  Christopher A. Kuhl,et al.  Mars Science Laboratory Entry Atmospheric Data System Trajectory and Atmosphere Reconstruction , 2014 .

[44]  Özgür Karatekin,et al.  Atmospheric Reconstruction with Stagnation Pressure Flight Data from Mars Science Laboratory , 2017 .

[45]  S. Larsen,et al.  The Mars Pathfinder atmospheric structure investigation/meteorology (ASI/MET) experiment. , 1997, Science.