08:30 〜 09:00
[S19-3-01] The Seismic Exploration of Mars by the InSight Mission
invited
The InSight mission is planned for launch in May 2018 and landing on Mars about 6 months later. The payload comprises a geophysical observatory, with a seismometer (SEIS), a heat flow experiment, a geodesy experiment, and a suite of environmental sensors measuring the magnetic field and atmospheric temperature, pressure and wind. SEIS is the primary instrument of the mission and consists of a 3-axis Very-Broad-Band (VBB) instrument and a 3-axis Short Period (SP) instrument mounted on a leveling system, protected by a wind/thermal shield, and connected to the instrument electronics by a tether. The VBBs are enclosed in an Evacuated Container (EC). A leak detected in the EC late in 2015 forced postponement of the launch from 2016 to 2018, and the EC has been redesigned to prevent a recurrence.
Despite efforts with the Viking seismometers in 1976, SEIS is expected to provide the very first seismic records of Mars. Thus achieving our science goals is very challenging due to the almost complete lack of information on the seismic structure of Mars, as well as the levels of seismic activity and noise. In parallel to the instrument development by the SEIS technical team, SEIS science team efforts have concentrated on three challenges: single-station seismic analysis methodology; pre-launch estimation of the seismic and station-generated noise; and amplitude of seismic and gravity signals generated by both quakes and non-seismic sources (e.g., meteorite impacts, atmosphere, Phobos tide).
We present the status of the SEIS experiment as well as the expected performance of the seismic payload following its characterization during the 2016-17 Flight Model delivery campaign. We then summarize and review the most recent analyses predicting the seismic performance of the SEIS experiment in the Martian environment, and update estimates of seismic signals, noise ( including environmental decorrelation) and planetary structure inversion perspectives.
Despite efforts with the Viking seismometers in 1976, SEIS is expected to provide the very first seismic records of Mars. Thus achieving our science goals is very challenging due to the almost complete lack of information on the seismic structure of Mars, as well as the levels of seismic activity and noise. In parallel to the instrument development by the SEIS technical team, SEIS science team efforts have concentrated on three challenges: single-station seismic analysis methodology; pre-launch estimation of the seismic and station-generated noise; and amplitude of seismic and gravity signals generated by both quakes and non-seismic sources (e.g., meteorite impacts, atmosphere, Phobos tide).
We present the status of the SEIS experiment as well as the expected performance of the seismic payload following its characterization during the 2016-17 Flight Model delivery campaign. We then summarize and review the most recent analyses predicting the seismic performance of the SEIS experiment in the Martian environment, and update estimates of seismic signals, noise ( including environmental decorrelation) and planetary structure inversion perspectives.