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Project MAGIC

Portuguese Contribution for the Mars Express Mission

Alves, A.(1), Alves, E. I.(1), Azevedo, J. M. M.(1), Baptista, A. R.(1), Barata, T.(2), Branco, J.(1), Conde, L. E. N.(1), Fernandes, V. A. (1), Hormigo, T.(3), Luz, D.(3), Neves, L.(4), Pina, P.(2), Roos-Serote, M. (3) and Webb, M. E.(5)

(1)     Centre for Geophysics of the University of Coimbra

(2)     Centre for Geosystems (IST/UTL)

(3)     Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL)

(4)     Meteorological Institute (IM)

(5)     Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (DCEA-FCT/UNL)

Abstract

Project MAGIC – Mars Atmospherical, Geophysical and Exobiological Characterisation – arised from the coalition of efforts of three proposed Recognized Collaborative Laboratories (RCL)  in response to the European Space Agency (ESA) second announcement of opportunities for the Mars Express Mission. This project wil take place in the period 2002-2006, and aims to analyse the information that will be conveyed by instruments aboard the Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2 Lander and integrate that information into a global geological map of Mars, also identifying, in the process, potential aquifers and potential biomarkers.

Project MAGIC proposes to yield seven products:

  1. The Mars Orbital Viewer – MOVie

  2. An apparentthermal inertia (ATI) map

  3. A high-resolution water stability map

  4. A lithostructural map

  5. A hydrological potential map

  6. A local assessment of potential biomarkers

  7.  A geological map of Mars

MOVie will be a virtual-reality adressable map of Mars, based on stereoscopic images from the HSRC (visible) camera.

The ATI map will draw on data from both the OMEGA (VNIR band) and PFS (NIR/TIR band) instruments. This map will enrich the existing atmospheric circulation models with another degree of freedom and help in the discrimination of lithotypes and hydric potential.

The determination of p-T profiles and the processing of accelerometer data from the Beagle 2 probe will allow to compute a high-resolution stability map for liquid water, that will later be cross‑referenced with the hydric potential map. Data arriving from Beagle 2 will also be the basis for the assessment of methane contents on low martian atmosphere and soil-adsorbed gases. Also, atmosphere, soil and rock composition data from the lander will allow for the correction of remotely sensed spectra.

Classification will proceed in two phases: first, the registered data will be fed to an expert system that will compute point lithologies from mineral compositions and rock spectra; then those point lithologies will be fed into a self-organising map neural network, which in turn will output virtual lithologies and map them onto the planetary surface. Mathematical morphology operators will also be used to perform the classification of Mars surface by explicitly incorporating textural features, thus biasing the neural network weights into defining lithological patterns that correspond to regions with a higher hydric potential.

The hydric potential map will draw on data from the lithostructural map, the water stability map and the MARSIS – microwave – instrument.

Integration of all data will be achieved on the final geological map of Mars.

The procedures developed in project MAGIC will be reusable, with minor adjustements due to different instrumental setups, on other planetary missions, even for remote sensing of the Earth.

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