"Studying of nuclear radiation from martian subsurface based on HEND data"
Maxim Litvak (IKI)
Abstract:
The presentation is based on speaker's doctoral thesis and contains results of observations of Martian neutron albedo from Russian High Energy Neutron Detector onboard 2001 Mars Odyssey in 2002-2004 years. The neutron spectroscopy used in the experiment allows studying chemical composition of Martian subsurface and distribution of water in upper layers of regolith. The main issues discussed in the presentation are listed below:
1. The development of data processing software for preliminary data analysis, background subtraction and mapping of neutron flux in different energy bands.
2. HEND neutron maps of martian polar permafrost regions with high content of water ice. Presence of chemically bound water in equatorial regions of Mars.
3. The numerical model of martian subsurface and estimation of water content in polar and equatorial regions of Mars.
4. Seasonal variations of neutron albedo resulted from annual redistribution of atmospheric CO2 between martian poles. Results of comparative analysis between HEND data and direct measurements of the thickness of condensed carbon dioxide by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) onboard Mars Global Surveyor
5.
4-dimensional model of seasonal deposit: Estimation of mass and volume
density of condensed carbon dioxide at different regions of martian
seasonal caps