Investigations of the Mars Upper Atmosphere with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Space Science Reviews - Time measured by an ideal clock crucially depends on the gravitational potential and velocity of the clock according to general relativity. Technological advances in...     

Interrupted synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

The severe timeline demands imposed by the multi-mode functions of modern airborne radars utilizing active array antennas, may result in interrupted SAR data collections and consequent corrupted images. To recover the image quality, we interpolate the missing data using the Burg algorithm, allowing interrupt ratios of up to 30%     

Laser Velocimeter for Wind Tunnel Measurements

Laser velocimetry is an optical technique used to make local measurements of mean velocity and turbulence in fluid flows without disturbing them. Laser velocimetry principles are briefly recalled; the optical and mechanical elements making up a velocimeter are described. Their purpose is to create two laser beams of equal intensity which are focused and crossed in a probe volume ? where a fringe pattern is formed; the light scattered by submicron particles passing through ? is collected by an optics rigidly connected to the emitting optics and focused on a photomultiplier. Among the various signal processing techniques, counters are now widely used, in connection with minicomputers. The different means used to determine the velocity sign and to measure simultaneously two components of the velocity are described; the simultaneous measurement of the three velocity components is more a matter of technology and cost than a theoretical problem. The modular operational velocimeter developed at ONERA is described; as examples of application, some typical results obtained in different aerodynamic flows are reported.     

Exploration of Mars in the SPICAM-IR experiment onboard the Mars-Express spacecraft: 2. Nadir observations: Simultaneous observations of water vapor and O2 glow in the Martian atmosphere

The SPICAM experiment onboard the Mars-Express spacecraft includes sounding the Martian atmosphere in the ultra-violet (118–320 nm) and near IR (1–1.7 μm) ranges. The infrared spectrometer operates in the range of 1–1.7 μm with a resolution of 3.5 cm^?1 in the mode of nadir observations and solar and stellar occulations. This paper is devoted to analyzing the basic results of nadir observations of the infra-red SPICAM channel during the first Martian year of the instrument operation: from January 2004 to November 2005. One of the primary goals of SPICAM-IR is water vapor monitoring in the atmosphere of Mars in the band of 1.37 μm and ozone abundance determination from the day-time airglow of molecular oxygen O₂(a ¹Δ_g) in the band of 1.27 μm. Simultaneous measurements of these minor constituents of the planet are necessary for understanding photochemical processes in the Martian atmosphere. The degree of their anticorrelation and a comparison with the results of photochemical modeling of the atmosphere will contribute to our knowledge of the Martian atmosphere stability.