Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2014

Presentation information

International Session (Oral)

Symbol P (Space and Planetary Sciences) » P-PS Planetary Sciences

[P-PS02_28AM1] Mars

Mon. Apr 28, 2014 9:00 AM - 10:45 AM 418 (4F)

Convener:*Takehiko Satoh(Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Masaki Ishiwatari(Department of Cosmosciences, Graduate school of Science, Hokkaido University), Ayako Matsuoka(Research Division for Space Plasma, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Yoshiyuki O. Takahashi(Center for Planetary Science), Sho Sasaki(Department of Earth and Space Sciences, School of Science, Osaka University), Hideaki Miyamoto(The University Museum, The University of Tokyo), Chair:Masaki Ishiwatari(Department of Cosmosciences, Graduate school of Science, Hokkaido University)

10:30 AM - 10:45 AM

[PPS02-05] Development of a dust imager for Mars landing mission

*Takehiko SATOH1, Kazunori OGOHARA2, George HASHIMOTO3, Kazuhiko MIURA4, Takaaki MANO5 (1.Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2.University of Shiga Prefecture, 3.Okayama University, 4.Tokyo University of Science, 5.National Institute for Materials Science)

Keywords:Mars, dust, imager, landing, mission

We report progress in developing a dust imager for future Mars landing missions. As Martian dust is a key element of its environment and a potential hazard for human exploration, it is essential to know what is Martian dust and how it works. However, little is known about the Martian dust due primarily to lack of measurements. Direct imaging would greatly increase our knowledge about the Martian dust (previously, an Atomic-Force Microscope onboard Phoenix acquired just one image).The dust imager under development is not a microscope but a "bare" imaging sensor of which pixels are fine pitched. After exposing the sensor to the air with dust for a while, we illuminate the sensor with a parallel beam so that shadows of particles on the sensor are directly imaged. In this way, the imager does not need a focusing mechanism and is expected to be very light-weighted and robust. Although the status is still the laboratory-experiment level, this small tool would greatly contribute to the Mars science and exploration.