Nicolas Dauphas (University of Chicago) will use mass spectrometer techniques to determine elemental and isotopic abundances of iron, potassium and other elements, and to measure ages using rubidium-strontium dating.Three of the selected scientists will conduct laboratory analyses of the samples brought back from Phobos. Christine Hartzell (University of Maryland) will explore the physical properties of Phobos’ surface regolith by using rover data to identify regolith clumps and constrain the forces needed to hold them together.Sander Goossens (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) will use data from the MMX instruments and navigation data from the spacecraft to constrain the moons’ gravity fields, shapes, rotational states and internal mass distributions.
Abigail Fraeman (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) will combine data from different MMX instruments to learn more about the moons’ compositions and to test hypotheses about the sources of enigmatic spectral absorptions observed on Phobos.Christopher Edwards (Northern Arizona University) will apply a thermophysical model to MMX infrared spectra to map the variations in spectral properties and surface roughness across Phobos and Deimos.Matteo Crismani (California State University) will study the particles of interplanetary dust that strike Mars and their role in the formation of high-altitude ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere.Daly will search for surface changes on Phobos and Deimos by comparing MMX image data with past missions’ imagery of the two moons.Barnouin will create high-resolution digital terrain models of the Martian moons, measuring the properties of surface features and studying the properties of the Phobos regolith through its interaction with the rover.Seven of the selected scientists will conduct research using the suite of MMX flight instruments. The mission aims to understand how Phobos and Deimos formed and how the Martian system evolved. The mission will return the samples to Earth in 2029. With launch planned for 2024, MMX will visit the two moons of Mars, actually landing on and collecting samples from the surface of Phobos. will study the two Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos. Scientists Olivier Barnouin and Terik Daly and eight other researchers from institutions across the U.S. Two researchers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, are joining the Science Working Team for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission as NASA-supported participating scientists.
0 kommentar(er)
