NOMAD, an Integrated Suite of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars Trace Gas Mission: Technical Description, Science Objectives and Expected Performance

Ann Carine Vandaele (1) , Josè Juan Lopez-Moreno (2) , Manish R. Patel (3, 4) , G. Bellucci (5) , F. Daerden (1) , B. Ristic (1) , S. Robert (1) , R. Thomas (1) , V. Wilquet (1) , M. Allen (6) , G. Alonso-Rodrigo (7) , F. Altieri (5) , S. Aoki (1) , D. Bolsée (1) , T. Clancy (8) , E. Cloutis (9) , C. Depiesse (1) , R. Drummond (1) , Anna A. Fedorova (10) , V. Formisano (5) , B. Funke (2) , F. Gonzalez-Galindo (2) , A. Geminale (5) , J.-C. Gerard (11) , M. Giuranna (5) , L. Hetey (1) , N. Ignatiev (10) , J. Kaminski (12) , Ö. Karatekin (13) , Y. Kasaba (14) , M. Leese (3) , Franck Lefèvre (15) , S. R. Lewis (3) , M. López-Puertas (2) , M. Lopez-Valverde (2) , A. Mahieux (1, 16, 5) , J. Mason (3) , J. Mcconnell (17) , M. Mumma (18) , L. Neary (1) , E. Neefs (1) , E. Renotte (19) , J. Rodriguez-Gomez (2) , G. Sindoni (5) , M. Smith (17) , Arnaud Stiepen (20) , A. Trokhimovsky (10) , J. Vander Auwera (21) , G. Villanueva (18, 22) , S. Viscardy (1) , J. Whiteway (17) , Y. Willame (1) , M. Wolff (8)

1 BIRA-IASB - Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy / Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique
2 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
3 School of Physical Sciences [Milton Keynes]
4 RAL Space - Space Science and Technology Department [Didcot]
5 IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali - INAF
6 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
7 IDR - Instituto Universitario de Microgravedad "Ignacio Da Riva"
8 SSI - Space Science Institute [Boulder]
9 Department of Geography [Winnipeg]
10 IKI - Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
11 LPAP - Laboratoire de Physique Atmosphérique et Planétaire
12 Institute of Geophysics [Warsaw]
13 ROB - Royal Observatory of Belgium [Brussels]
14 Tohoku University [Sendai]
15 PLANETO - LATMOS
16 FNRS - Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique [Bruxelles]
17 York University [Toronto]
18 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
19 CSL - Centre Spatial de Liège
20 LASP - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder]
21 Service de Chimie Quantique et Photophysique
22 Catholic University of America

The NOMAD (“Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery”) spectrometer suite on board the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has been designed to investigate the composition of Mars’ atmosphere, with a particular focus on trace gases, clouds and dust. The detection sensitivity for trace gases is considerably improved compared to previous Mars missions, compliant with the science objectives of the TGO mission. This will allow for a major leap in our knowledge and understanding of the Martian atmospheric composition and the related physical and chemical processes. The instrument is a combination of three spectrometers, covering a spectral range from the UV to the mid-IR, and can perform solar occultation, nadir and limb observations. In this paper, we present the science objectives of the instrument and explain the technical principles of the three spectrometers. We also discuss the expected performance of the instrument in terms of spatial and temporal coverage and detection sensitivity.

Keywords: Visible; Ultraviolet; Infrared; Composition; Mars atmosphere; Nadir observations; Solar occultation; ExoMars; Spectroscopy; Methane; Dust

Domains: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic [astro-ph.IM]

Ann Carine Vandaele, Josè Juan Lopez-Moreno, Manish R. Patel, G. Bellucci, F. Daerden, et al.. NOMAD, an Integrated Suite of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars Trace Gas Mission: Technical Description, Science Objectives and Expected Performance. Space Science Reviews, 2018, 214 (5), pp.art. 80. ⟨10.1007/s11214-018-0517-2⟩. ⟨insu-01818686⟩