Research in the WROONA GroupResearch in the WROONA Group

Daniel MègeDaniel Mège

FNP project TEAM 2011/7-9FNP project TEAM 2011/7-9October 2011 - June 2015October 2011 - June 2015

+ one or two unrealistic ideas for future instrumental development+ one or two unrealistic ideas for future instrumental development

Wroona is a small blue world in Wroona is a small blue world in Wroona system, located on the far edge Wroona system, located on the far edge of the Inner Rim in the Rayter Sector. of the Inner Rim in the Rayter Sector. The planet's continents are separated The planet's continents are separated by vast oceans, and their blue-sand by vast oceans, and their blue-sand beaches stretch for thousands of beaches stretch for thousands of kilometers. The near-human kilometers. The near-human inhabitants of Wroona, numbering over inhabitants of Wroona, numbering over seven billion, are a blue-skinned species seven billion, are a blue-skinned species with a lighthearted and optimistic with a lighthearted and optimistic outlook on life. outlook on life.

StarWars wikiStarWars wiki

Mars helps understand the EarthMars helps understand the EarthEarth helps understand MarsEarth helps understand Mars

© John C. Holden

Present collaborationsPresent collaborations

Comparative geoscienceComparative geoscience

Research topicsResearch topics

MarsMarsvs.vs.

AfarAfar

Similar processesSimilar processesSocompaPeru

Valles Marineris

LandslidesLandslides

Collapse of topographic ridgesCollapse of topographic ridges

Valles Marineris Tatra MountainsSlovakia

Rock alterationRock alteration

Gale crater

SE Ethiopia

• 1 kierownik

Research teamResearch team

• 4 PhD students• 2 postdocs (adiunkt)

• 1 PhD student• 1 adiunkt (zastępca kierownika)• 1 professor

Science topicsScience topics

• Evolution of paleoenvironments• Cold environments• Mass wasting processes

Datasets usedDatasets used

Spacecraft Instrument Data type Basic usage Resolution /pixel

Mars Global Surveyor MOC Panchromatic imagery morphology 6 m minMOLA Laser altimetry shots topography, gravity maps variableMAG-ER Magnetic field measurements magnetic maps

Mars Express HRSC Stereoscopic imagery morphology, topography 10 m, DEM 50 mOMEGA Hyperspectral cubes mineralogy 300 mMaRS Orbital tracking gravity anomaly maps

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Day-time imagery morphology 19 mNight-time IR imagery surface thermal properties 100 m

MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter

CTX Panchromatic imagery morphology, topography 5 m, DEM 20 mHiRISE Panchromatic imagery morphology, topography 25 cm, DEM 1 mCRISM Hyperspectral cubes mineralogy 18 mSHARAD Sounding radar subsurface structure 15 m (vertical)

Mars Science Laboratory Various Various geological comparison between Gale crater and Wroona Group study areas

Favourite study areaFavourite study area

Valles MarinerisValles Marineris

• tectonic• volcanic• sedimentary• glacial, fluvial, aeolian

- Window to the Martian crust (10 km deep)- Fossilized environmental successions in the landscapes- Variety of geological processes common to Mars and Earth

130 km

8.5 km8.5 km8.5 km8.5 km

Valles MarinerisValles Marineris

The whole Mars history is there!

What do we need? What do we need?

Ideas

• more high resolution imagery• better spectral data• better topography

… more and better everything…

We need to go to the field!We need to go to the field!

• Check the surface (geology)• Check the subsurface (geophysics)

Let's be innovative!

Let's explore the field!Let's explore the field!

Subsurface geophysicsSubsurface geophysics

Crustal structureCrustal deformation features Mège and Masson, 1996

© Medialab, ESA 2001

Subsurface structure

Gravity-driven topographicdeformation

Mège andBourgeois, 2011

Subsurface geophysicsSubsurface geophysics

• Seismicity• Resistivity• Magnetotelluric imaging

Okavango Rift, BotswanaOkavango Rift, Botswana

MT surveyMosley Bufford et al., 2012

Gulf of MexicoGulf of MexicoSeismic survey

Pindell et al., 2011

• Seismicitygeophones

Geophone 4, Apollo 17

Subsurface geophysicsSubsurface geophysics

• Resistivity• Magnetotelluric imaging

electrodes

Mole (in 2008)

Let's explore the field!Let's explore the field!

Geological field workGeological field work

• Valles Marineris is nice

• It has recorded on limited surface areas more geologic events than any other site on Mars• These successions are concentrated on small surface areas

• It has the reputation of being unpredictable (surface roughness/ellipse problem)• It is nonsense!

MSL could have landedin a place similar to this in Gale Crater

MSL landing site proposedby Chonacki and HynekMSL landing site proposedby Chonacki and Hynek

100 km

5 different sites were proposed in VM for MSL5 different sites were proposed in VM for MSL

How to get safely to nice rock outcrops?How to get safely to nice rock outcrops?How to get safely to nice rock outcrops?How to get safely to nice rock outcrops?

But the engineering constraint remains:But the engineering constraint remains:a huge surface area must be smooth for landinga huge surface area must be smooth for landing

corollary

there is not much to seethere is not much to see

Great discoveries are not planned!Great discoveries are not planned!

• Technological challengeTechnological challenge

Considered option:

• Back to the basicsBack to the basics of space exploration:

like the incredible Curiosity landing

EXPLORE instead of find what we are expecting to find

like the New Horizons spacecraft

• Scientific and technological visibilityScientific and technological visibility

?

The Mars ballsreplace humans in the field.The Mars ballsreplace humans in the field.

• are robust and light enough to be easily transported by wind

• travel following the wind conditions and make observations and measurements when stabilized

The Mars balls…

• Radio communication

• Science payload: MS/HS camera and other sensors (thermal, mag…)

• Automatically inflattable for higher portance and instrument protection between observation sites

• Internal gravity balance for instrument orientation control

• Spring/hammering mechanism to start blocked balls or change the ball orientation for new measurements

• 10, 20, 50 items released in one flight?

• Requires good knowledge of wind conditions in Valles Marineris

The Mars ballsOther featuresOther features

ARES platform (Joel Levine, NASA LaRC)prepared for another NASA Scout mission

Carriers that have already been developed:

KittyHawk glider, NASA Scout mission (Wendy Calvin, UNR),was to be flown above Valles Marineris in 2003 for the 100thanniversary of the Wright brothers' flight

ARES Scout mission payload

Let's make it true!