The Red Planet in a new light
Abstract
The results of Mars remote sensing by the USSR's Phobos 1 and 2 spacecraft have included the measurement of ionized gas in the planet's vicinity, estimates of the loss of gas from the Martian atmosphere, and IR images of the planet's surface obtained by the Thermoscan instrument from a 6000-km radius circular orbit. Another instrument, the French Mapping IR Spectrometer, measured the planet's spectrum at 128 different wavelengths in the near-IR. A preliminary analysis of these data has shown considerable variations in the mineralogical composition of the Martian surface. Phobos-2 also studied the vertical structure of the planet's atmosphere.
- Publication:
-
New Scientist
- Pub Date:
- August 1989
- Bibcode:
- 1989NewSc.123...52Z
- Keywords:
-
- Mars;
- Photographs;
- Phobos Missions;
- Phobos;
- Satellites;
- Atmosphere;
- Thermal Properties;
- Mission Description;
- Spacecraft Observations;
- Diagrams;
- Design;
- Surface;
- Plasma;
- Magnetosphere;
- Infrared;
- Equatorial Region;
- Emissions;
- Spectrometry;
- Mineralogy;
- Structure;
- Equipment;
- Imagery;
- Satellites;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration; Mars