Mars Express 10 years at Mars: Observations by the Mars Express Radio Science Experiment (MaRS)

• DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2016.02.013
• Publication Date: 2016-03-26T03:00:26Z
• Authors: M. Pätzold; B. Häusler; G.L. Tyler; T. Andert; S.W. Asmar; M.K. Bird; V. Dehant; D.P. Hinson; P. Rosenblatt; R.A. Simpson; S. Tellmann; P. Withers; M. Beuthe; A.I. Efimov; M. Hahn; D. Kahan; S. Le Maistre; J. Oschlisniok; K. Peter; S. Remus
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The Mars Express spacecraft is operating in Mars orbit since early 2004. The Mars Express Radio Science Experiment (MaRS) employs the spacecraft and ground station radio systems (i) to conduct radio occultations of the atmosphere and ionosphere to obtain vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, neutral number densities and electron density, (ii) to conduct bistatic radar experiments to obtain information on the dielectric and scattering properties of the surface, (iii) to investigate the structure and variation of the crust and lithosphere in selected target areas, (iv) to determine the mass, bulk and internal structure of the moon Phobos, and (v) to track the MEX radio signals during superior solar conjunction to study the morphology of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Here we report observations, results and discoveries made in the Mars environment between 2004 and 2014 over almost an entire solar cycle.