Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)

The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) is a weather monitorting instrumentation suite that is a part of the MARS2020 Perservenerence Rover, to launch on MARS2020 int he summer of 2021 and scheduled to land on the Martian surface in the winter of 2022. MEDA is scheduled to deploy, operate, and collect weather data during the initial primary operational mission phase. MEDA will monitor dust properties and in-situ near-surface pressure, relative humidity, the air and surface thermal environment, wind, and the solar radiation cycle autonomously on Mars around the clock. The main objective of MEDA is characterize the diurnal to seasonal cycles in local dust properties (total column, size distribution, phase function, shape properties) which is used to understand temporal response to the local meteorology, and measure the local near-surface environmental pressure, air and surface temperatures, relative humidity, wind, and UV-visible-IR solar radiation. MEDA operates autonomously and continuously at an adjustable sample rate. The MEDA data will be collected and stored on the Planetary Data System (PDS) and made available to users. MEDA data can also be used during pre-flight analyses of the Mars Helicopter project. The MEDA instrumentation suite consists of the following components: internal control unit and pressure sensor within the rover body; wind sensors attached to the rover mast; air temperature sensors (3 on the mast and 2 on the rover body); a thermal infrared sensor on the rover mast; a relative humidity sensor on the rover mast; a radiation and dust sensor, which includes the SkyCam to image atmospheric dust opacities and scattering on the rover deck.

Establish technology for environmental monitoring stations on Mars and other planets as well as technology to monitor optical properties of atmospheric aerosols from the surface of Mars.

The following are a benefits that MEDA has provided since beginning operations on the Martian surface:

- The Mars Sample Return EDL team reguarly requests wind data from MEDA: it is the first time that the science community can characterize the meteorology of a location before landing there. Winds influence the parachute navigation trajectory after its deployment and thereby the control of where it lands.

- The Ingenuity Helicopter team routinely looks at the MEDA data to decide time of their flights. The observations of the wind regimes during the sol cycle help to understand and predict when gusty winds, variable winds, calm winds, etc. could be present. They also look at the vertical temperature profiles to understand the vertical changes in density (pressure/temperature at 3 different heights), which affects drag and lift coefficients of the helicopter. Finally, they look at radiation fluxes and temperatures measured by MEDA to understand the battery (solar) charging cycle and plan flight times around their battery state of charge.

- The Mars Sample Return design team is also requesting Wind Sensor data and utilzie it for modeling, design, and optimization of the solar panels

- In the November 2021 report from the Planetary Data System (PDS), MEDA was the M2020 instrument that had the most data downloaded from different users, comprising approximately 144 unique IP addresses.

- On a typical month the MEDA images attract the most users. MEDA experiences regular image downloads from approximately seventy users of the Planetary Data System (PDS).

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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.