arXiv subjects

Marie-Julie Peters

Publications and source records attributed to Marie-Julie Peters.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

The radioscience LaRa instrument onboard ExoMars 2020 to investigate the rotation and interior of Mars

LaRa (Lander Radioscience) is an experiment on the ExoMars 2020 mission that uses the Doppler shift on the radio link due to the motion of the ExoMars platform tied to the surface of Mars with respect to the Earth ground stations (e.g. the deep space network stations of NASA), in order to precisely measure the relative velocity of the lander on Mars with respect to the Earth. The LaRa measurements shall improve the understanding of the structure and processes in the deep interior of Mars by obtaining the rotation and orientation of Mars with a better precision compared to the previous missions. In this paper, we provide the analysis done until now for the best realization of these objectives. We explain the geophysical observation that will be reached with LaRa (Length-of-day variations, precession, nutation, and possibly polar motion). We develop the experiment set up, which includes the ground stations on Earth (so-called ground segment). We describe the instrument, i.e. the transponder and its three antennas. We further detail the link budget and the expected noise level that will be reached. Finally, we detail the expected results, which encompasses the explanation of how we shall determine Mars' orientation parameters, and the way we shall deduce Mars' interior structure and Mars' atmosphere from them. Lastly, we explain briefly how we will be able to determine the Surface platform position.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2017

Signatures of the Martian rotation parameters in the Doppler and range observables

The position of a Martian lander is affected by different aspects of Mars' rotational motions: the nutations, the precession, the length-of-day variations and the polar motion. These various motions have a different signature in a Doppler observable between the Earth and a lander on Mars' surface. Knowing the correlations between these signatures and the moments when these signatures are not null during one day or on a longer timescale is important to identify strategies that maximize the geophysical return of observations with a geodesy experiment, in particular for the ones on-board the future NASA InSight or ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars2020 missions. We provide first-order formulations of the signature of the rotation parameters in the Doppler and range observables. These expressions are functions of the diurnal rotation of Mars, the lander position, the planet radius and the rotation parameter. Additionally, the nutation signature in the Doppler observable is proportional to the Earth declination with respect to Mars. For a lander on Mars close to the equator, the motions with the largest signature in the Doppler observable are due to the length-of-day variations, the precession rate and the rigid nutations. The polar motion and the liquid core signatures have a much smaller amplitude. For a lander closer to the pole, the polar motion signature is enhanced while the other signatures decrease. We also numerically evaluate the amplitudes of the rotation parameters signature in the Doppler observable for landers on other planets or moons.

astro-ph.EP↗