Contribution of magnetic measurements onboard NetLander to Mars exploration

• Published in: Planetary and Space Science
• Main Authors: Menvielle, Michel, Musmann, Günter, Kuhnke, Falko, Berthelier, Jean-Jacques, Glassmeier, Karl-Heinz, Mandea, Mioara H., Motschmann, Uwe, Pajunpaa, Kari, Pinçon, Jean-Louis, Primdahl, Fritz, Szarka, Laszlo
• Other Authors: Centre d'étude des environnements terrestre et planétaires (CETP), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Département des sciences de la Terre, Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11), Institut für Geophysik und Extraterrestrische Physik Braunschweig (IGEP), Technische Universität Braunschweig = Technical University of Braunschweig Braunschweig, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut für Theoretische Physik Braunschweig, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Laboratoire de physique et chimie de l'environnement (LPCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI), Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute (GGRI), Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA)-Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2000
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01652950; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0032-0633(00)00106-9

International audience In the frame of the international cooperation for Mars exploration, a set of 4 NetLanders developed by an European consortium is expected to land on the planet during the forthcoming years. Among other instruments, the geophysical package of each lander will include a magnetometer. The different possible contributions of magnetic measurements onboard the NetLander stations are presented. Intrinsic planetary field and remanent magnetisation investigations by means of magnetometers onboard a network of landers are first considered, and the information that can be thus derived on the Martian core dynamo and surface rocks, soil, and dust is discussed. The contribution of permanent recording of the magnetic transient variations at a network of surface stations is then discussed. The transient variations of the magnetic field at the surface of a planet has a primary external source, the interaction between the environment of the planet and solar radiation, and a secondary source, the electric currents induced in the conductive planet. The continuous recording of the time variations of the magnetic field at the surface of Mars by means of three component magnetometers installed onboard NetLander stations will therefore allow study of both the internal structure of Mars and dynamics of its ionised environment. The expected characteristics of transient magnetic variations, and their relation with plasma flow and current in the Mars ionised environment are discussed. The use of the network magnetic data to probe the internal structure of Mars is also considered. The used techniques are presented, and the information that can be thus obtained on the Mars permafrost, lithosphere and mantle structure illustrated by numerical simulations. Finally, the specifications of the instrument allowing to achieve these objectives are discussed, and the instrument described.