The NetLander MagNet experiment

• Main Authors: Menvielle, Michel, Primdahl, F., Brauer, P., Jensen, P.A., Merayo, J.M.G., Berthelier, Jean-Jacques, Breuer, Doris, Chanteur, Gérard, Mandea, M., Magnes, Werner, Musmann, G., Pajunpaa, K., Pinçon, Jean-Louis, Schwingenschuh, Konrad, Szarka, L., Vennerstrøm, S.
• 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), Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI), DTU Electrical Engineering Lyngby, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet = Technical University of Denmark (DTU), National Space Institute Lyngby (DTU Space), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES), Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), Technische Universität Braunschweig = Technical University of Braunschweig 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), Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute (GGRI), Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA)-Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), P. Stauning (ed.)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2002
• Subjects: [SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; [PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO]; [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-PLASM-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Plasma Physics [physics.plasm-ph]; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00155823

In the frame of the NetLander mission, developed by an European consortium under CNES leadership, a network of 4 landers will be deployed at the Mars surface. 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. The MagNet consists in continuous recording of the transient variations in the three components of the magnetic field observed at each NetLander. 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 fields 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 the dynamic of its ionised environment. As is the case for the Earth, different possible controling plasma processes will lead to different convection patterns inside the magnetosphere and therefore different magnetic signatures at the planetary surface. Continuous recordings of the transient variations of the magnetic field onboard landers will then provide constraints on the convection within the Martian magnetosphere, that is a small magnetosphere where the ionosphere lies at great heights relative to the dimensions of the magnetospheric cavity. The use of the network magnetic data to probe the internal structure of Mars is also considered. 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.