Magnetic and optical properties of airborne dust and settling rates of dust at the Phoenix landing site

Line Drube...[et al.]; Kristoffer Leer; Morten Bo Madsen; Mads Dam Ellehøj; Martin Patrong Haspang

doi:10.1029/2009je003419

Magnetic and optical properties of airborne dust and settling rates of dust at the Phoenix landing site

Line Drube...[et al.], Kristoffer Leer, Morten Bo Madsen, Mads Dam Ellehøj, Martin Patrong Haspang

Abstract

The Magnetic Properties Experiment (referred to as iSweep or Caltarget) onboard the Phoenix lander was executed in the arctic region of Mars during the mission's 152 sols lifetime. The iSweep experiment involved periodic multispectral imaging of a series of permanent ring magnets. It was designed to attract airborne magnetic dust particles to certain areas on the iSweeps thereby sorting all settling airborne particles at least to some degree according to their magnetic properties. The dust on the area directly above the strong magnets of the iSweep was found to be brighter than that collected on the precursor Sweep Magnet Experiment onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers near Mars' equator, and also this dust is found to be brighter than both surface soil near the lander and soil in the region surrounding the lander. As most other dust and soils on Mars, the Phoenix dust lacks strong spectral signatures of highly crystalline phases. For the first time, based on the complete calibrated data set of images of the iSweeps, spectra were extracted of the putative dust falling on the magnetically protected areas of the iSweeps. These areas are accessible only for particles with a magnetic susceptibility below 10-3. Spectra of this nonmagnetic dust are interpreted as signals from nonmagnetic minerals such as tectosilicates or glasses pigmented by poorly crystalline ferric oxides. Rates of dust settling were determined to be 1.08 µm/sol on the magnets and 0.06 µm/sol for the magnetically protected areas.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
Volume	115
Pages (from-to)	E00E23
Number of pages	15
ISSN	2169-9003
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2009je003419
Publication status	Published - 8 Aug 2010

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10.1029/2009je003419

Cite this

@article{35eaf170febc11de825d000ea68e967b,

title = "Magnetic and optical properties of airborne dust and settling rates of dust at the Phoenix landing site",

abstract = "The Magnetic Properties Experiment (referred to as iSweep or Caltarget) onboard the Phoenix lander was executed in the arctic region of Mars during the mission's 152 sols lifetime. The iSweep experiment involved periodic multispectral imaging of a series of permanent ring magnets. It was designed to attract airborne magnetic dust particles to certain areas on the iSweeps thereby sorting all settling airborne particles at least to some degree according to their magnetic properties. The dust on the area directly above the strong magnets of the iSweep was found to be brighter than that collected on the precursor Sweep Magnet Experiment onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers near Mars' equator, and also this dust is found to be brighter than both surface soil near the lander and soil in the region surrounding the lander. As most other dust and soils on Mars, the Phoenix dust lacks strong spectral signatures of highly crystalline phases. For the first time, based on the complete calibrated data set of images of the iSweeps, spectra were extracted of the putative dust falling on the magnetically protected areas of the iSweeps. These areas are accessible only for particles with a magnetic susceptibility below 10-3. Spectra of this nonmagnetic dust are interpreted as signals from nonmagnetic minerals such as tectosilicates or glasses pigmented by poorly crystalline ferric oxides. Rates of dust settling were determined to be 1.08 µm/sol on the magnets and 0.06 µm/sol for the magnetically protected areas. ",

author = "{Drube...[et al.]}, Line and Kristoffer Leer and Madsen, {Morten Bo} and Elleh{\o}j, {Mads Dam} and Haspang, {Martin Patrong}",

year = "2010",

month = aug,

day = "8",

doi = "10.1029/2009je003419",

language = "English",

volume = "115",

pages = "E00E23",

journal = "Journal of Geophysical Research",

issn = "0148-0227",

publisher = "American Geophysical Union",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Magnetic and optical properties of airborne dust and settling rates of dust at the Phoenix landing site

AU - Drube...[et al.], Line

AU - Leer, Kristoffer

AU - Madsen, Morten Bo

AU - Ellehøj, Mads Dam

AU - Haspang, Martin Patrong

PY - 2010/8/8

Y1 - 2010/8/8

N2 - The Magnetic Properties Experiment (referred to as iSweep or Caltarget) onboard the Phoenix lander was executed in the arctic region of Mars during the mission's 152 sols lifetime. The iSweep experiment involved periodic multispectral imaging of a series of permanent ring magnets. It was designed to attract airborne magnetic dust particles to certain areas on the iSweeps thereby sorting all settling airborne particles at least to some degree according to their magnetic properties. The dust on the area directly above the strong magnets of the iSweep was found to be brighter than that collected on the precursor Sweep Magnet Experiment onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers near Mars' equator, and also this dust is found to be brighter than both surface soil near the lander and soil in the region surrounding the lander. As most other dust and soils on Mars, the Phoenix dust lacks strong spectral signatures of highly crystalline phases. For the first time, based on the complete calibrated data set of images of the iSweeps, spectra were extracted of the putative dust falling on the magnetically protected areas of the iSweeps. These areas are accessible only for particles with a magnetic susceptibility below 10-3. Spectra of this nonmagnetic dust are interpreted as signals from nonmagnetic minerals such as tectosilicates or glasses pigmented by poorly crystalline ferric oxides. Rates of dust settling were determined to be 1.08 µm/sol on the magnets and 0.06 µm/sol for the magnetically protected areas.

AB - The Magnetic Properties Experiment (referred to as iSweep or Caltarget) onboard the Phoenix lander was executed in the arctic region of Mars during the mission's 152 sols lifetime. The iSweep experiment involved periodic multispectral imaging of a series of permanent ring magnets. It was designed to attract airborne magnetic dust particles to certain areas on the iSweeps thereby sorting all settling airborne particles at least to some degree according to their magnetic properties. The dust on the area directly above the strong magnets of the iSweep was found to be brighter than that collected on the precursor Sweep Magnet Experiment onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers near Mars' equator, and also this dust is found to be brighter than both surface soil near the lander and soil in the region surrounding the lander. As most other dust and soils on Mars, the Phoenix dust lacks strong spectral signatures of highly crystalline phases. For the first time, based on the complete calibrated data set of images of the iSweeps, spectra were extracted of the putative dust falling on the magnetically protected areas of the iSweeps. These areas are accessible only for particles with a magnetic susceptibility below 10-3. Spectra of this nonmagnetic dust are interpreted as signals from nonmagnetic minerals such as tectosilicates or glasses pigmented by poorly crystalline ferric oxides. Rates of dust settling were determined to be 1.08 µm/sol on the magnets and 0.06 µm/sol for the magnetically protected areas.

U2 - 10.1029/2009je003419

DO - 10.1029/2009je003419

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0148-0227

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JF - Journal of Geophysical Research

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