nssashort

Slide1: 

Andrew McGrath, Joss Hawthorn, Jeremy Bailey The Australian Centre for Space Photonics Presentation to the NSSA, October 2003

Mars and the Anglo-Australian Observatory: 

Mars and the Anglo-Australian Observatory Andrew McGrath, Joss Hawthorn, Jeremy Bailey Presentation to the NSSA, October 2003

The Australian Centre for Space Photonics: 

The Australian Centre for Space Photonics 2002 Proposal to the ARC for a Centre of Excellence Strong technical basis Strong reasons for an Australian involvement Withdrew from ARC proposal on applicability issues Continuing work – maintaining vision – following different route to involvement

Mars: 

Mars Diameter: 6790 km Rotation period: 24.6229 hours Polar inclination: 23.98° Mass: 0.1074 Earth masses Escape velocity: 5030 ms-1 Surface gravity: 3.73 ms-2 Albedo: 0.16 Atmosphere: 95% CO2, 3% N2 Surface pressure: ~10 hPa Surface temperature: 130K – 300K Solar orbit diameter: 1.4 AU Distance from Earth: ~50Mkm to ~400Mkm

History: 

History Long term interest Mythological Scientific Similarity to Earth

History: 

History Percival Lowell, 1906

History: 

History

History: 

History

Mars: 

Mars Recent opposition: only ~55 million km Earth to Mars AAO observations using UKIRT in Hawaii, August 2003 obtained spectral ‘images’ in the NIR

Long slit spectroscopy: 

Long slit spectroscopy

Long slit spectroscopy: 

Long slit spectroscopy

Long slit spectroscopy: 

Long slit spectroscopy

Long slit spectroscopy: 

Long slit spectroscopy

Spectrographic analysis: 

Spectrographic analysis Spectrographic slit ensemble Viking imagery 2.2 to 2.3μm

Spectrographic analysis: 

‘Raw’ spectrum of part of the Martian disk Spectrographic analysis

Spectrographic analysis: 

Spectrographic analysis Hellas spectral data – relative to dataset ‘centre’ - spectral features highlighted

Spectrographic analysis: 

Spectrographic analysis CO2 absorption retrieved MOLA topography from AAO/UKIRT data

Spectrographic analysis: 

Spectrographic analysis Atmosphere Geology Astrobiology But there’s a pretty hard limit to what can be done from Earth. We need to go there.

Exploration of Mars: 

Exploration of Mars 1962 Two more Soviet flyby attempts, Mars 1 within 190,000 km 1964 Mariner 3, Zond 2 1965 Mariner 4 (first flyby images), Zond 3 1969 Mariners 6 and 7 1971 Mariners 8 and 9 1971 Kosmos 419, Mars 2 & 3 (first landers) 1973 Mars 4, 5, 6 & 7 1975 Viking 1, 1976 Viking 2 • 1960 Two Soviet flyby attempts

Exploration of Mars: 

Exploration of Mars 1992 Mars Observer 1996 Mars 96 1997 Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor 1998 Nozomi launch 1999 Climate Orbiter, Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 2001 Mars Odyssey • 1988 Phobos 1 and 2

Exploration of Mars: 

Exploration of Mars 2003 Nozomi arrival 2004 Mars Exploration Rovers 1 & 2 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 2005 Rosetta flyby 2007 Mobile Scientific Laboratory 2007 Netlanders-07 2007 Remote Sensing Orbiter • 2003 Mars Express (Beagle 2)

Exploration of Mars: 

Exploration of Mars 2009 Smart Lander, Long Range Rover 2009 Mars 2009 Communications Satellite 2009 Netlanders-09 2009 ExoMars-09 2014 Mars 2014 (possible sample return) 2015 Possible ESA manned mission 2016 Mars 2016 (possible sample return) 2019 Possible NASA manned mission • 2007 Small Scout Missions (Phoenix)

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09 ESA exobiology mission scheduled to land a 220kg rover in 2009 ‘Pasteur’ instrument package Panoramic camera Drill for sample acquistion (depth 1.5m) Optical colour microscope Subsurface electromagnetic sounder Laser plasma spectrometer Gas chromatograph Mass spectrometer

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09 180-day lifetime on surface Search/sample/process cycle ~6 days

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09 Opportunity for Australian involvement ESA call to international community for interested parties to suggest instrumentation or other project support (due 14-May-03) Large consortium with ACA and AAO as major partners submitted a proposal

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09 “Prospector” proposal Based on ACA expertise in most closely related search fields – detection of evidence of 3-4 Gyr old microbial life (Western Australia) Two-fold involvement Search strategy Instrument proposal

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09 Prospector instrument: A NIR spectrometer boresighted to the stereo PanCam Allows mineralogical assessment of potential drill/sample targets before the full investment of the expensive sample cycle

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09

ExoMars-09: 

ExoMars-09

Communications -the bottleneck: 

Communications -the bottleneck Increasing number of missions Evolution towards more data-intensive instrumentation Increasing spacecraft data storage capacity Greater reliance on public support for funding – greater sense of ‘presence’ requires greater data rates

Communications -the bottleneck: 

Communications -the bottleneck Radio (microwave) links, spacecraft to Earth Newer philosophy - communications relay (Mars Odyssey, MGS) Sensible network topology 25-W X-band (Ka-band experimental) <100 kbps downlink

Communications Bottleneck: 

Communications Bottleneck Current missions capable of collecting much more data than downlink capabilities (2000%!) Currently planned missions make the problem 10x worse Future missions likely to collect ever-greater volumes of data

Communications Bottleneck: 

Communications Bottleneck Increasing downlink rates critical to continued investment in planetary exploration

Communications Energy Budget: 

Communications Energy Budget Theoretical ‘cost’ proportional to transmitting wavelength X-band transmitter  ~ 40 mm Laser transmitter  ~ 0.5-1.5 m Assuming similar aperture sizes and efficiencies, optical wins over microwave by > 3 orders of magnitude

Long-term Solution: 

Long-term Solution Optical communications networks

Long-term Solution: 

Long-term Solution Optical communications networks Advantages over radio Higher modulation rates More directed energy Analagous to fibre optics vs. copper cables

Lasers in Space: 

Lasers in Space Laser transmitter in Martian orbit with large aperture telescope

Lasers in Space: 

Lasers in Space Laser transmitter in Martian orbit with large aperture telescope Receiving telescope on or near Earth Preliminary investigations suggest ~100Mbps achievable on 10 to 20 year timescale Enabling technologies require accelerated development

Lasers in Space - challenges: 

Lasers in Space - challenges Immature technology cf. radio Cloud and other weather Pointing and tracking Signal acquisition Reliability

Lasers in Space - challenges: 

Lasers in Space - challenges Will not replace radio for all applications Fast-manoeuvring spacecraft Cheap, highly independent spacecraft Emergency operations Entry/descent/landing comms Dusty/thick atmosphere environments

Key Technologies: 

Key Technologies Suitable lasers Telescope tracking and guiding Optical detectors Cost-effective large-aperture telescopes Atmospheric properties Space-borne telescopes

NASA approach today: 

NASA approach today Pursuing two approaches Enhanced RF communications Optical communications

Optical spacecraft comms: 

Optical spacecraft comms ESA have already run intersatellite test NASA/JPL and Japan presently researching the concept and expect space-ground communications tests in the near future

NASA optical comms plans: 

NASA optical comms plans Operational demonstration on Mars Telecom Orbiter (2009) 5W average power (300W peak) 1064μm wavelength (NIR) 300mm aperture transmitter 3 – 10 Mbps 3-9 х 8-10m receiving telescopes

AAO input: 

AAO input Proposed NASA parameters near-identical to AAO suggestions AAO discussions with NASA to encourage change in wavelength (to 532nm) Go for Green!

AAO input – 532 vs. 1064nm: 

AAO input – 532 vs. 1064nm Achieve change with frequency doubler cell (can conceivably switch in & out) Better pointing (so higher power density, less spill)  Worse detector efficiency  Visible (marginally by eye, certainly by amateur astronomers) – public relations coup comparable to USSR Sputnik Suggestion favourably received by NASA and under serious consideration

An Australian Role: 

An Australian Role Australian organisations have unique capabilities in the key technologies required for deep space optical communications links Existing DSN involvement High-power, high beam quality lasers Holographic correction of large telescopes Telescope-based instrumentation Telescope tracking and guiding

Australian involvement in missions to Mars: 

Take advantage of unique Australian capabilities Australian technology critical to deep space missions Continued important role in space FOR MORE INFO... http://www.aao.gov.au/lasers Australian involvement in missions to Mars