The Microelectronics Institute of Seville, a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of Seville, has designed integrated circuits that are key to understanding the weather on Mars.
After completing 250 soles of operation, the magazine ‘Nature Geoscience’ publishes the first data collected by the MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer) instrument on board NASA’s Perseverance rover, in charge of collecting data in the Jezero crater to characterize the physical processes in the lowest layer of the Martian atmosphere.
The MEDA instrument incorporates two integrated circuits designed by the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Sevilla, which are the “brain” of the MEDA wind sensor and represent the fruit of a decade of study of the effects of space radiation on electronic circuits and of the characterization of the manufacturing technology at the low temperatures existing on Mars.
MEDA includes various sensors that perform meteorological measurements, including wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, as well as the quantity and size of dust particles in the Martian atmosphere, the CSIC has reported in a statement.
Thanks to this, it is possible to study the spatially and temporally variable meteorology in the Jezero crater, demonstrating the great variability of phenomena existing in the atmosphere around the rover and the day/night temperature cycles, heat fluxes, dust cycles and how dust particles interact with radiation. He has also studied how clouds and wind form around Perseverance.
The IMSE-CNM researchers and co-authors of the article, Servando Espejo and Joaquín Ceballos, have highlighted that pioneering centers in this field such as the Center for Astrobiology (INTA-CSIC), which leads the project, or NASA itself “count on our group to develop the circuits is a recognition of the effort of so many years to carry out science from our region”.
- Left6: There is no advertising configuration for the requested slot
All these measurements are not only relevant for the current study, but are especially relevant for the next NASA mission, called “Mars Sample Return”, which must bring back the samples collected by the rover, as well as for future manned missions to the red planet.
