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Projects
Mars Climate Sounder Team Website
March 31, 2009: Mars Climate Sounder Provides First Warning of a Major Dust Event »
NEW April 7, 2009: Update on the 2009 Dust Event »
March 22, 2009: Instrument update
Mars Climate Sounder, one of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's six science instruments, is performing a detailed, systematic study of Mars' weather and climate. Mars Climate Sounder is the first science investigation at Mars that is capable of performing a "4-dimensional" study (three spatial dimensions and time) of the key properties of Mars' atmosphere.
Since Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter began its science operations in November 2006, Mars Climate Sounder has been acquiring vertical profiles of the temperature, pressure, dust, and clouds of the lower 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Mars' atmosphere. An intermittent error that first appeared in December 2006 has occasionally plagued instrument operations, but as of March 2009 had disappeared.
Now that Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in its extended mission, Mars Climate Sounder is gathering climate data from its second Mars year of operations, allowing it to study how the climate varies from year to year. As it did in 2007, Mars Climate Sounder is now closely watching the development of the late southern spring's occasionally planet-encircling dust storms.
Just after Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived at Mars, Mars Climate Sounder captured a unique portrait of the spacecraft's instrument deck and many of its other science instruments.
The Planetary Society is an education outreach partner on Mars Climate Sounder and is proud to be a part of this next phase of Mars exploration.
More About Mars Climate Sounder
Science Objectives
How It Works
The Team
Images and Data
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