JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2020

Presentation information

[E] Oral

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

[P-PS08] Mars and Mars system: results from a broad spectrum of Mars studies and aspects for future missions

convener:Hideaki Miyamoto(University of Tokyo), Tomohiro Usui(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Yuki Harada(Kyoto University), Sushil K Atreya(University of Michigan Ann Arbor)

[PPS08-18] The MMX Rover: objectives, science goals, and contributions to the MMX mission

*Hideaki Miyamoto1, Patrick Mitchel2, Stephan Ulamec3, Ute Böttger3, Matthias Grott3, Naomi Murdoch4, Pierre Vernazza5, MMX Rover team (1.University of Tokyo, 2.Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, 3.Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. , 4.Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, 5.Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille)

Keywords:MMX, rover, Phobos, Mars, exploration

The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) will carry the small (~25kg) rover, which is mainly contributed by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The rover is designed as a scout, a demonstrator, and an in-situ science investigator, and will survive >100 days on the surface of Phobos. The primary objective of the rover is increasing the landing safety of the MMX mothership, which is planned to obtain >10 g of samples including at depth >2cm from each of two sampling sites. Scientific objectives of the rover include 1) understanding the physical properties and mechanical behaviors of Phobos regolith, 2) in-situ geological and geochemical survey of the roving area; 3) mineralogical study of the surface material at the landing/roving area; 4) understanding the thermal properties of the surface; and 5) studying the heterogeneity of the surface at various scales. The scientific payload of the rover consists of four instruments, such as the IR radiometer; miniRad, which is designed mainly to characterize the thermal properties of the regolith; NavCams, which is composed of two cameras in stereo and will observe the soil and landscape in front of the rover in color; RAX, which is a Raman spectrometer for characterizing the composition of the ground just below the rover; and WheelCams, which consists of two cameras looking at the interface between the wheel of the rover and the surface to characterize the behavior of regolith. The rover is in a significantly important position in multi-scale observations between the global observations of the MMX mothership and the very localized precise information obtained from the returned sample. The rover team is now composed of 39 Co-Is and 23 collaborators and is working together with all science sub teams (SST) of the MMX mission, especially the Surface Science and Geology SST (Science Sub Team).