One Martian Year of MEDA/TIRS observations at the Mars 2020 landing site

<p>The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS; Sebasti&#225;n et al., 2021; Mart&#237;nez et al., 2023) is one of the six sensor packages of the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA; Rodr&#237;guez-Manfredi et al., 2021), which in turn is one of the seven science instruments on board Perseverance. Here we show a summary of TIRS scientific highlights during the first Martian year of operations. In particular, TIRS is providing the first in situ determination of the surface radiative budget, direct determination of broadband albedo and thermal inertia (Mart&#237;nez et al., 2023; Savij&#228;rvi et al., 2022), and around-the-clock determination of aerosol opacities (Smith et al., 2023). In addition, TIRS is providing ground-truth to orbital retrievals of thermal inertia and albedo, as well as geophysical characterization of the uppermost surface of the regolith during Phobos and Deimos eclipses. In synergy with other instruments, TIRS is being used to determine vertical profiles of temperature (Munguira et al., 2023), to detect dust lifting from sudden changes in albedo (Vicente-Retortillo et al., 2023), and to assess changes in the water content of the Martian soil (Hausrath et al., 2023), including the potential formation of frost.</p> <p>TIRS observations are critical to achieve MEDA&#8217;s first programmatic objective (validate global atmospheric models by measuring the radiative surface budget in preparation for future human exploration). Also, TIRS observations are important in support of flights of Ingenuity and therefore for the design and operations of future drones.&#160;</p> <p><strong>References</strong>:</p> <p>Hausrath, E. M. et al. (2023), The SuperCam team and the Regolith working group, An Examination of Soil Crusts on the Floor of Jezero crater, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (accepted).</p> <p>Mart&#237;nez, G. M. et al. (2023), Surface Energy Budget, Albedo and Thermal Inertia at Jezero Crater, Mars, as Observed from the Mars 2020 MEDA Instrument, <em>Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets</em> (accepted).</p> <p>Munguira, A. et al. (2023), Near Surface Atmospheric Temperatures at Jezero from Mars 2020 MEDA measurements, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (under review).</p> <p>Rodriguez-Manfredi, J.A. et al. (2021), The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A suite of environmental sensors for the Mars 2020 mission, <em>Spa. Sci. Rev.</em>, 217(3), 1-86.</p> <p>Savij&#228;rvi, H. I. et al. (2022), Surface energy fluxes and temperatures at Jezero crater, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets: e2022JE007438.</p> <p>Sebasti&#225;n, E. et al. (2021), Thermal calibration of the MEDA-TIRS radiometer onboard NASA's Perseverance rover, <em>Acta Astronautica</em>, 182,144-159.</p> <p>Smith, M. D. et al. (2023), Diurnal and Seasonal Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth Observed by MEDA/TIRS at Jezero Crater, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (accepted).</p> <p>Vicente-Retortillo, A. et al. (2023), Dust Lifting Through Changes in Albedo at Jezero Crater, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (under review).</p>