Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.4909s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #49.09; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1004
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
The Martian environment is meteorologically extremely dry, dusty, cold (with a large diurnal temperature change), is irradiated by UV and is probably highly chemically oxidising. Detailed measurements of the near-surface atmospheric temperature profile coupled with other meteorological data allow the dynamics of the Martian atmospheric boundary layer to be investigated. This is of particular importance given the atmosphere's tendency to turbulent mixing observed by previous experiments, on e.g. Mars Pathfinder within a few metres of the surface.
We examine thermocouple sensors for the Mars environment by evaluating the sensor designed for the AEP instrument, a meteorology package previously selected for the ExoMars geophysics lander. The design of the sensor contains three thin wire thermocouples for redundancy in a configuration based on those flown on the Viking, Mar Pathfinder and Phoenix landers. Thin-wire thermocouples offer the best type of temperature sensor for in-situ atmospheric temperature measurements as they have a fast response time, are less sensitive to radiative heat coupling and do not have problems with self-heating. The sensor described in this presentation is accurate to < 0.25K.
The work presented will describe the sensor itself and provide results of detailed calibration tests in an isothermal Mars environmental chamber (simulating the temperatures, pressure and atmospheric composition expected near the surface) testing the instruments accuracy, and response in relation to the thermal capacity of the wire. Further to this, numerical models used to investigate the difficulties in correctly measuring the temperature of the atmosphere will be described. These models consider effects such as radiative heating from direct sunlight or radiation reflected from the surface, shielding from flowing air. Having studied the behaviour of this sensor and different types of design of thermocouple weld, including re-examining the Viking sensors, if appropriate, design improvements are suggested.
Bowles Neil
Calcutt Simon
Mansell J.
Sykulska-Lawrence Hanna
Temple Jeff
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