P11B-2097
The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA): A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Rover

Monday, 14 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Leslie Tamppari1, Jose Antonio Rodriguez-Manfredi2, Manuel de la Torre-Juárez3, Nathan Bridges4, Pamela Gales Conrad5, Maria Genzer6, Felipe Gomez7, Javier Gomez-Elvira8, Ari-Matti Harri6, Mark T Lemmon9, German Martinez10, Sara Navarro11, Claire E Newman12, Santiago Perez-Hoyos13, Olga Prieto2, Miguel Ramos14, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez15, Agustin Sanchez-Lavega13, John T. Schofield3 and Michael D Smith5, (1)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (2)INTA-CSIC, Madrid, Spain, (3)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (4)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (5)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (6)Finnish Meteorological Inst, Helsinki, Finland, (7)Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain, (8)Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States, (9)Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, United States, (10)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (11)Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA), Instrumentation, Madrid, Spain, (12)Ashima Research, Pasadena, CA, United States, (13)University of the Basque Country, Donostia, Spain, (14)Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain, (15)Spanish National Research Council, Zaragoza, Spain
Abstract:
The Mars 2020 rover mission is being developed to collect and sample materials with possible bio-signatures that could test the existence of previous biological activity on Mars. In addition to the sampling experiments, the mission will include instruments capable of characterizing the local context of the samples at geological time scales, studying the current environment, and demonstrating oxygen generation from the Martian atmosphere (MOXIE), an important human exploration goal. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) was selected as part of the Mars 2020 payload, in particular, to address future human exploration objectives, including characterization of dust size and morphology and understanding surface weather. In addition to its scientific importance, dust sizes and shapes are critical for proper design of in-situ resource elements such as filters for a MOXIE-type experiment.

MEDA comprises a suite of sensors that will measure dust particle size distribution and phase function to attain particle shape, optical depth, surface pressure, air and surface temperature, down-wellling and up-welling radiation to provide net radiative forcing from UV through IR, horizontal and vertical wind, and humidity. MEDA has high heritage from the REMS package operating on Curiosity and the TWINS package in development for InSight. The current objectives and instrument descriptions will be presented.

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