@misc{10481/61245,
year = {2019},
month = {8},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/61245},
abstract = {One of the most critical stages of a mission to another planet is the
Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) stage. If not successful, the entire mission will be deemed a failure.
The thin atmosphere, unpredictable winds, variable dust content, and rough terrain make an EDL on
Mars particularly challenging. In this paper, a simplified Martian mesoscale model is used to simulate the
EDL conditions encountered by six past missions to the planet with the model predictions evaluated
against the observed measurements. By and large, the model successfully captures the observed density,
temperature, pressure, and horizontal wind vertical profiles in the lowest 30 km, where the most critical
phase of the EDL takes place. The main discrepancy with respect to the observed profiles is for heights
above 15 km and is probably due to an incorrect representation of the vertical profile of atmospheric dust,
which strongly affects heating rates and hence other variables. The model is subsequently run for the
proposed landing sites of ExoMars 2020 (Oxia Planum) and Mars 2020 (Jezero Crater) missions and for
the expected time of EDL. For both sites, the model predictions indicate a strong sensitivity to the dust
loading, with the most favorable time for the EDL, that is, when the horizontal wind speed is generally
the weakest with smaller shifts in wind direction, being the late morning and early afternoon.},
organization = {This work was partially
funded by the European Research
Foundation (ERF).},
publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
title = {MARSWRF Prediction of Entry Descent Landing Profiles: Applications to Mars Exploration},
doi = {10.1029/ 2019EA000575},
author = {Morais Fonseca, Ricardo and Zorzano-Mier, María Paz and Martín-Torres, Javier},
}