Mini-MARLI, a small lidar for measuring of atmospheric wind and dust profiles from Mars Orbit

Title: Demonstrating the key technologies for Mini-MARLI, a small lidar for measuring of atmospheric wind and dust profiles from Mars Orbit

Abstract:

Global measurements of Mars atmospheric winds have been among the highest priority atmospheric science investigations in a series of Mars community reports over the last decade or more. Such measurements have been called for in each of the past two Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Surveys (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine 2013; 2023), are listed prominently in the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) Science Goals (MEPAG, 2020), and are among the preferred investigations for future Mars science missions as defined by MEPAG-chartered Science Analysis Groups (SAGs) (MEPAG ICE-SAG, 2019; MEPAG NEX-SAG, 2015).

Our group previously developed the Mars Atmospheric Lidar (MARLI) instrument, with internal NASA GSFC and NASA PICASSO and MatISSE programs funding, to TRL 6 in response to this community-defined need for global Mars atmospheric wind measurements. MARLI was designed to be carried on a medium-to-large polar orbiting spacecraft and address these high priority science questions regarding Mars atmospheric dynamics and to help prepare for human exploration. The proposed cadence of Mars missions outlined in Exploring Mars Together provides an opportunity for collecting these unique measurements, albeit on a smaller platform with a smaller, more power efficient instrument.

Mini-MARLI is designed to adapt MARLI to such a smaller orbiter mission, while retaining its core science and measurement capabilities, and is directly responsive to the four Initiatives and three co-equal Science Themes of Exploring Mars Together. Investigating adapting MARLI to Mini-MARLI during 2025 should allow its technology to mature in preparation for first set of small-to-medium sized missions outlined in Exploring Mars Together planned for launch at the end of the decade and early in the 2030s.

Mini-MARLI’s global measurements of Mars winds support each of the three co-equal Science Themes of Exploring Mars Together. Most directly supporting “Discover Dynamic Mars”, winds are the core element of atmospheric dynamics responsible for the transport and exchange of volatiles and dust around the planet. Martian winds are likely the prime agent of surface geologic modification over the last ~3 Gy (Golombek and Bridges, 2000; Golombek et al., 2006). Aeolian (wind-driven) erosion and surface sediment motion are the most active geologic processes on modern Mars. As with any other aspect of Mars, understanding Mars today is a baseline requirement before extrapolating to past climate regimes. Our current lack of knowledge about Mars winds precludes that. If extant life exists on Mars today and is in an environment that is exchanging with the atmosphere, then understanding the wind and transport regimes are necessary to detect and localize the presence of biology. Backwards trajectory modeling of putative point-source biomolecule emissions (e.g., methane) have been done (e.g., Luo et al., 2021), but are inherently unconstrained by data and are only partially successful when compared to lander-measured winds (Newman et al., 2021; 2022). Observed wind fields and their implied transport of potential bioindicators represent a low risk and planetary protection-friendly mechanism to localize regions of interest for more complex and challenging in situ experiments and supports the “Explore the Potential for Martian Life” science theme.

Wind measurements at the global and landing site scales also support the Science Theme “Support Human Exploration of Mars”. More than providing value added to Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) systems, which will regardless be engineered to extremely rigorous margins for a human-scale landing system, understanding the wind patterns near a landing site “Support Human Exploration of Mars” by providing an expectation for how humans will modify the local environment and impact planetary protection. Whereas backwards trajectory modeling could be used to localize a potential point source of extant Mars life, forward trajectory modeling of leaks from a human habitat provides a useful prediction of how pristine certain locations of scientific interest may remain during a human surface mission.

Mini-MARLI is designed to fit into the low-cost mission architecture that would launch spacecraft to Mars at each launch window opportunity under the Exploring Mars Together framework. Whereas the present version of MARLI requires a larger spacecraft to accommodate its mass and power, Mini-MARLI will fit into the smaller focused spacecraft that Initiative 1 describes. Initiative 2 calls out “Global Meteorological Monitoring” as science and mission enabling measurements and Mini-MARLI would provide that global perspective on current meteorological conditions while advancing the scientific state-of-the-art with new measurements.

References and bibliography:

Abshire, J.B. et al., MARLI, 2015 European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC), http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2015/EPSC2015-258.pdf

Abshire J.B. et al., “MARLI: Mars Lidar for Measuring Global Wind and Aerosol Profiles from Orbit,” 7^thInternational Workshop on the Mars Atmosphere, 2022, https://www-mars.lmd.jussieu.fr/paris2022/abstracts/poster_Abshire_James_MARLI.pdf

Cremons, D.R., J. Abshire, G. Allan, X. Sun, H. Riris, M. Smith, S. Guzewich, A. Yu, F. Hovis, “Development of a Mars lidar (MARLI) for measuring wind and aerosol profiles from orbit,” SPIE Proceedings Volume 10791, 1079106 (2018).

Cremons, D.R., J. B. Abshire, X. Sun, G. Allan, H. Riris, M. D. Smith, S. Guzewich, A. Yu, F. Hovis, “Design of a direct‑detection wind and aerosol lidar for mars orbit,” CEAS Space Journal (2020) 12:149–162 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-020-00301-z

Golombek, M. P., and N. T. Bridges (2000), Erosion rates on Mars and implications for climate change: Constraints from the Pathfinder landing site, J. Geophys. Res., 105(E1), 1841–1853, doi:10.1029/1999JE001043.

Golombek, M. P., et al. (2006), Erosion rates at the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites and long-term climate change on Mars, J. Geophys. Res., 111, E12S10, doi:10.1029/2006JE002754.

Guzewich et al., MARLI, 2016 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/1497.pdf

Luo, Y., Mischna, M. A., Lin, J. C., Fasoli, B., Cai, X., & Yung, Y. L. (2021). Mars methane sources in northwestern Gale crater inferred from back trajectory modeling. Earth and Space Science, 8, e2021EA001915. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001915

MEPAG (2020), Mars Scientific Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and Priorities: 2020. D. Banfield, ed., 89 p. white paper posted March, 2020 by the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) at https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports.cfm.

MEPAG NEX-SAG Report (2015), Report from the Next Orbiter Science Analysis Group

(NEX-SAG), Chaired by B. Campbell and R. Zurek, 77 pages posted December, 2015 by the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) at http://mepag.nasa.gov/reports.cfm.

MEPAG ICE-SAG Final Report (2019), Report from the Ice and Climate Evolution Science Analysis group (ICE-SAG), Chaired by S. Diniega and N. E. Putzig, 157 pages posted 08 July 2019, by the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) at http://mepag.nasa.gov/reports.cfm.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. “Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022”. The National Academies Press. doi.org/10.17226/13117.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Origins, Worlds, and Life: Planetary Science and Astrobiology in the Next Decade. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27209.

Newman, C.E., de la Torre Juárez, M., Pla-García, J. et al. Multi-model Meteorological and Aeolian Predictions for Mars 2020 and the Jezero Crater Region. Space Sci Rev 217, 20 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00788-2

Newman, C.E., et al. (2022), The dynamic atmospheric and aeolian environment of Jezero crater, Mars. Sci. Adv. 8, eabn3783. DOI:10.1126/sciadv.abn3783

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.