Scientific objectives of the DYNAMO mission

Eric Chassefière (1) , François Forget (1) , F. Hourdin (1) , F. Vial (1) , H. Rème (2) , C. Mazelle (2) , D. Vignes (2) , J.-A. Sauvaud (2) , P.-L. Blelly (2) , D. Toublanc (2) , Jean-Jacques Berthelier (3) , Jean-Claude Cerisier (3) , Gérard Chanteur (3) , L. Duvet (3) , Michel Menvielle (3) , J. Lilensten (4) , Olivier Witasse (4) , P. Touboul (5) , Eric Quémerais (6) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (6) , G. Hulot (7) , Y. Cohen (7) , P. Lognonné (7) , J.P. Barriot (8) , G. Balmino (8) , M. Blanc (8) , P. Pinet (8) , Michel Parrot (9) , Jean-Gabriel Trotignon (9) , M. Moncuquet (10) , J.-L. Bougeret (10) , K. Issautier (10) , E. Lellouch (10) , N. Meyer (10) , C. Sotin (11) , O. Grasset (11) , F. Barlier (12) , C. Berger (12) , P. Tarits (13) , J. Dyment (13) , D. Breuer (14) , T. Spohn (14) , M. Pätzold (15) , K. Sperveslage (15) , P. Gough (16) , A. Buckley (16) , K. Szego (17) , S. Sasaki (18) , S. Smrekar (19) , D. Lyons (19) , M. Acuna (20) , J. Connerney (20) , M. Purucker (20) , R. Lin (21) , J. Luhmann (21) , D. Mitchell (21) , François Leblanc (22) , R. Johnson (22) , J. Clarke (23) , A. Nagy (23) , D. Young (23) , S. Bougher (24) , G. Keating (25) , R. Haberle (26) , B. Jakosky (27) , R. Hodges (28) , M. Parmentier (29) , H. Waite (30) , D. Bass (30)

1 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
2 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements
3 CETP - Centre d'étude des environnements terrestre et planétaires
4 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie de Grenoble
5 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Palaiseau]
6 SA - Service d'aéronomie
7 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
8 OMP - Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées
9 LPCE - Laboratoire de physique et chimie de l'environnement
10 OP - Observatoire de Paris - Site de Paris
11 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique [UMR 6112]
12 OCA - Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur
13 UBO UFR ST - Université de Bretagne Occidentale - UFR Sciences et Techniques
14 Institut für Planetologie [Münster]
15 Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie [Köln]
16 University of Sussex
17 MTA - Hungarian Academy of Sciences
18 UTokyo - The University of Tokyo
19 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
20 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
21 SSL - Space Sciences Laboratory [Berkeley]
22 University of Virginia
23 University of Michigan [Ann Arbor]
24 University of Arizona
25 GW - The George Washington University
26 ARC - NASA Ames Research Center
27 University of Colorado [Boulder]
28 UT Dallas - University of Texas at Dallas [Richardson]
29 Brown University
30 SwRI - Southwest Research Institute [San Antonio]

DYNAMO is a small Mars orbiter planned to be launched in 2005 or 2007, in the frame of the NASA/ CNES Mars exploration program. It is aimed at improving gravity and magnetic field resolution, in order to better understand the magnetic, geologic and thermal history of Mars, and at characterizing current atmospheric escape, which is still poorly constrained. These objectives are achieved by using a low periapsis orbit, similar to the one used by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft during its aerobraking phases. The proposed periapsis altitude for DYNAMO of 120–130 km, coupled with the global distribution of periapses to be obtained during one Martian year of operation, through about 5000 low passes, will produce a magnetic/gravity field data set with approximately five times the spatial resolution of MGS. Additional data on the internal structure will be obtained by mapping the electric conductivity. Low periapsis provides a unique opportunity to investigate the chemical and dynamical properties of the deep ionosphere, thermosphere, and the interaction between the atmosphere and the solar wind, therefore atmospheric escape, which may have played a crucial role in removing atmosphere and water from the planet.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Eric Chassefière, François Forget, F. Hourdin, F. Vial, H. Rème, et al.. Scientific objectives of the DYNAMO mission. Advances in Space Research, 2001, 27 (11), pp.1851-1860. ⟨10.1016/S0273-1177(01)00338-6⟩. ⟨insu-03234667⟩