P077-0009
Mars Orbiters for Surface-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Connections (MOSAIC)
Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Robert J Lillis1, David Mitchell2, Luca Montabone3, Nicholas G Heavens4, Tanya Harrison5,6, Cassie M Stuurman7, Scott David Guzewich8, Scott England9, Paul Withers10, Michael Chaffin11, Shannon Curry2, Chi O Ao12, Steve E Matousek13, Nathan Barba14, Ryan Woolley14, Beatriz Sanchez-Cano15, Mark Lester15, Kerstin Peter16, Martin Paetzold17, Christopher M Fowler18, Justin Deighan11, Silvia Tellmann17, Janet G Luhmann1, Jasper S Halekas19, Isaac B Smith20, Joshua Vander Hook12, Armin Kleinboehl21, Michael Mischna21, Leslie Tamppari22, Valerie Scott23, David M Kass21 and The MOSAIC Study team, (1)University of California Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States, (2)Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States, (3)Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Hampton University, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Hampton, VA, United States, (5)Planet Labs, San Francisco, CA, United States, (6)Arizona State University, NewSpace Initiative, Tempe, DC, United States, (7)European Space Agency, Noordijk, Netherlands, (8)NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (9)Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia, VA, United States, (10)Boston University, Boston, MA, United States, (11)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (12)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (13)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Tujunga, CA, United States, (14)JPL, Pasadena, United States, (15)University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, (16)University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, (17)University of Cologne; Rheinisches Institut fuer Umweltforschung (RIU), Department of Planetary Research, Cologne, Germany, (18)Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (19)University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA, United States, (20)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (21)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (22)Jet Propulsion Lab/CALTECH, Pasadena, CA, United States, (23)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Abstract:
The Martian climate system has been revealed to be at least as complex as that of Earth. Over the last 20 years with no dedicated climate missions, a fragmented and incomplete picture has emerged of its structure and variability. We remain largely ignorant of many of the physical processes that drive matter and energy flow between and within the various climate domains, from the shallow subsurface to the exosphere.
Only with high cadence, simultaneous, global observations of Mars’ climate domains over diurnal and seasonal cycles can we unravel the spatial and temporal connections governing the current Martian climate system.
MOSAIC is a constellation of orbiting platforms, focused on understanding these connections through systematic observations of the Mars climate system. MOSAIC will characterize climate system variability diurnally and seasonally, on meso-, regional, and global scales, targeting the shallow subsurface all the way out to the solar wind, making many first-of-their-kind measurements. It is well-motivated by Decadal Survey and MEPAG goals. MOSAIC’s measurements and unique mission architecture will also enable human exploration of Mars by providing valuable water resource prospecting and hazard forecasting.
MOSAIC consists of ten orbiters uniquely tailored to observe the Mars climate system from three complementary perspectives (see figure). First, low circular near-polar sun-synchronous orbits (a mothership and three smallsats spaced in local time) enable vertical profiling of wind, aerosols, water and temperature, as well as mapping of surface and subsurface ice. Second, elliptical orbits enable two-point sampling of Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere, necessary to understand mass/energy transport and ion-driven escape. Last, four smallsats in areostationary orbits enable a) synoptic views of the lower atmosphere necessary to understand dynamics on global and mesoscales, b) global views of the hydrogen and oxygen exospheres, and c) measurements of space weather conditions. Frequent radio occultations between orbiters will greatly improve our understanding of ionospheric variability. Overall, MOSAIC’s spacecraft and instruments will revolutionize our understanding of the climate system, and make the measurements necessary to ensure the safe human exploration of Mars.
