The subsurface investigation by Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS)

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThe set of scient@ objectives for the MARSIS investigation was defined in the context of the objectives of the Mars Express mission [l] and in the more general frame of the current open issues in the study of Mars. The MARSIS primary objective is to map the distribution of water, both liquid and solid, in the upper portions of the crust of Mars. Three secondary objectives are defined for the MARSIS experiment: subsugace geologic probing, sugace characterization, and ionosphere sounding. We can notice that to achieve the global coverage MARSIS has been designed to support both dayside and nightside operations, although performances are maximized during night time, when the ionosphere plasma frequency drops off significantly and the lower frequency bands, which have greater penetration capability, can be used. The MARSIS was designed to work at altitude lower than 800 Km.

Response of the Martian ionosphere to solar activity including SEPs and ICMEs in a two-week period starting on 25 February 2015

“…Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument, which is a lowfrequency radar. MARSIS, which has a 40 m tip-to-tip dipole antenna, 7 m monopole antenna, a radio transmitter, receiver and digital processing system [Picardi et al, 2004], provides ionospheric density profiles determined from the remote sounding [Gurnett et al, 2005]. When an ionospheric profile is visible, the peak ionospheric density can be identified.…”

Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) after nine years of operation: A summary

“…Developed by a team of Italian and US researchers and industrial partners, MARSIS works by transmitting low-frequency, wide-band radio pulses that are capable of penetrating below the surface and are reflected by dielectric discontinuities linked to structural or compositional changes. MARSIS is also capable of operating as a topside ionosphere sounder, transmitting a burst of short, narrow-band pulses at different frequencies that are reflected by plasma with varying densities at different altitudes (Picardi et al, 2004b).…”

Permittivity estimation of layers beneath the northern polar layered deposits, Mars

“…[3] Both the North [e.g., Picardi et al, 2005;Putzig et al, 2009] and the South [e.g., Plaut et al, 2007;Seu et al, 2007a] PLD's have been observed by the MARSIS [Picardi et al, 2004] and SHARAD [Seu et al, 2007b] subsurface sounding radars, which operate in the HF and VHF bandwidth, respectively. Subsurface radar sounding is the only viable technique that can provide information in the third dimension (depth) of a planet from orbit.…”