ATTENZIONE!!! IL SISTEMA E' UTILIZZABILE ESCLUSIVAMENTE IN MODALITA' "CONSULTAZIONE". CAUSA PROBLEMI TECNICI, SI PREGA DI NON EFFETTUARE L'AUTENTICAZIONE, FINO A NUOVA COMUNICAZIONE. GRAZIE
 

Development and testing of the MicroMED sensor: From BreadBoard model to flight model

Journal
Date Issued
2024
Author(s)
DOI
Abstract
Suspended dust plays a critical role in regulating the Martian climate by influencing the atmospheric thermal gradient, altering the amount of infrared and visible energy absorbed and scattered by the atmosphere, and acting as condensation nuclei for CO2 iceclouds particles. There are many well demonstrated, dust-related effects on martian climate which depend on dustsize, concentration, chemical and bulk composition. Currently, an accurate estimation of these parameters is lacking as they are derived from indirect measurement of the optical depth acquired from the surface and orbital data. These indirect measurements require a priori assumptions on the grain distribution curve and are hence subject to possible biases. To overcome these limitations, an optical particles counter called MicroMED has been developed under the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) leadership. MicroMED can measure the sizes of individual dust grains in a specific volume of air thus providing the grain size distribution and concentration. MicroMED has been selected to join the Dust Complex payload on board the ExoMars 2022. The Flight Model of the instrument has been developed and optimized starting from two prototype BreadBoard versions. Here we present the sub-systems that constitute MicroMED and their testing and characterization process, performed using the Breadboard models. We discuss the optimizations and improvements introduced on the basis of the prototype results and the overall performances of the final design.
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0273-1177
Rights
open.access
File(s)
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name

1-s2.0-S027311772400190X-main.pdf

Description
[Administrators only]
Size

3.82 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

7539143dc7e6246dad63f4715e09cebf

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name

Manuscript_references new format.docx

Description
preprint
Size

111.98 KB

Format

Microsoft Word XML

Checksum (MD5)

f0b4f46c863198980a15835a72595faa