Fiber optic gyroscope For 6-component planetary seismology

Planetary seismology is a key technique for imaging the internal structure of planetary objects. It targets some of the most fundamental science objectives, from the formation of planetary systems to the characterization of habitable worlds. However, standard methods suffer from various limitations inherent to planetary missions, first one being that a single station is much easier to settle than an array. Taking benefit of the latest developments in so-called “rotational seismology”, it appears that a single instrument able to monitor both translations and rotations of planetary surfaces would be a game changer in planetary seismology. Indeed, in addition to perform both seismology and global rotational monitoring of the planetary object, the measurement of 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) brings a significantly increased scientific return compared to classical 3-DoF sensors. Hence, to enter a new realm of planetary exploration with an innovative ground motion instrumentation concept relying on high precision sensors based on optical interferometry, a project named PIONEERS has been submitted (April 2018) and accepted (July 2018) by European Commission through its H2020 program. Under the leadership of ISAE-SUPAERO, gathering IPGP, ETH-Z, Royal Observatory of Belgium, LMU and iXblue, the PIONEERS team aims to develop two innovative 6-Dof instruments for measuring ground deformation on planetary objects. The first instrument is a prototype of very low noise 6-Dof sensor dedicated to the imaging of the internal structure of terrestrial planets. The second one is a high TRL CubeSat version of the same instrument concept for exploration of small bodies.

[1]  Stefanie Donner,et al.  Improved finite-source inversion through joint measurements of rotational and translational ground motions: a numerical study , 2016 .

[2]  P. Lognonné,et al.  Very preliminary reference Moon model , 2011 .

[3]  Raphaël F. Garcia,et al.  Micro-meteoroid seismic uplift and regolith concentration on kilometric scale asteroids , 2015, 1503.01893.

[4]  David Mimoun,et al.  The Noise Model of the SEIS Seismometer of the InSight Mission to Mars , 2017 .

[5]  Heiner Igel,et al.  Seafloor ground rotation observations: potential for improving signal-to-noise ratio on horizontal OBS components , 2015 .

[6]  Mark A. Zumberge,et al.  An Optical Seismometer without Force Feedback , 2010 .

[7]  Klaus Mosegaard,et al.  An inquiry into the lunar interior: A nonlinear inversion of the Apollo lunar seismic data , 2002 .

[8]  Véronique Dehant,et al.  Geodesy constraints on the interior structure and composition of Mars , 2011 .

[9]  Yosio Nakamura,et al.  The shallow elastic structure of the lunar crust: New insights from seismic wavefield gradient analysis , 2016 .

[10]  David Mimoun,et al.  Estimations of the Seismic Pressure Noise on Mars Determined from Large Eddy Simulations and Demonstration of Pressure Decorrelation Techniques for the Insight Mission , 2017, Space Science Reviews.

[11]  R. Lorenz,et al.  Vital Signs: Seismology of Icy Ocean Worlds. , 2018, Astrobiology.

[12]  C. Johnson,et al.  Moon meteoritic seismic hum: Steady state prediction , 2009 .

[13]  Andreas Fichtner,et al.  Inferring earth structure from combined measurements of rotational and translational ground motions , 2009 .

[14]  V. Dehant,et al.  Understanding the effects of the core on the nutation of the Earth , 2017 .

[15]  Stewart Greenhalgh,et al.  6-C polarization analysis using point measurements of translational and rotational ground-motion: theory and applications , 2018 .

[16]  William M. Folkner,et al.  An improved JPL Mars gravity field and orientation from Mars orbiter and lander tracking data , 2016 .

[17]  R. Kovach,et al.  Apollo 14 Active Seismic Experiment , 1972, Science.

[18]  Heiner Igel,et al.  Normal mode coupling observations with a rotation sensor , 2015 .

[19]  Raphaël F. Garcia,et al.  Probing the internal structure of the asteriod Didymoon with a passive seismic investigation , 2017 .

[20]  W. Banerdt,et al.  Verifying single-station seismic approaches using Earth-based data: Preparation for data return from the InSight mission to Mars , 2015 .

[21]  L. Rolland,et al.  Modeling of atmospheric-coupled Rayleigh waves on planets with atmosphere: From Earth observation to Mars and Venus perspectives. , 2016, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[22]  Cedric Schmelzbach,et al.  Spatial wavefield gradient-based seismic wavefield separation , 2018 .

[23]  Y. Gourinat,et al.  An experimental study of low-velocity impacts into granular material in reduced gravity , 2016, 1702.05980.

[24]  David P. O'Brien,et al.  The global effects of impact-induced seismic activity on fractured asteroid surface morphology , 2005 .

[25]  Probing the Interiors of Planets with Geophysical Tools. , 2014 .

[26]  T. Gudkova,et al.  Spectrum of the free oscillations of the moon , 2013 .

[27]  Véronique Dehant,et al.  New constraints on Mars rotation determined from radiometric tracking of the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover , 2014 .