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A.-M Harri, J. Polkko (Finnish Meteorological Institute), S. Calcutt (University of Oxford, UK), D. Crisp (NASA / JPL), Soren Larsen (Risų National Laboratory, Denmark), J.-P. Pommereau (Service d'Aeronomie, France), T. Siili (Finnish Meteorological Institute), NetLander Co-investigators Team
ATMIS (Atmospheric and Meteorological Instrumentation System) is a versatile suite of atmospheric instrumentation to be accommodated onboard the Netlander Mission slated for launch to Mars in 2005. Four landers operating simultaneously are to form a geophysical measurement network on the surface of Mars. The goal of the ATMIS is to provide new data on the atmospheric vertical structure, regional and global circulation phenomena, the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) and atmosphere-surface interactions, dust storm triggering mechanisms, as well as the climatological cycles of H2O, dust and CO2. The in situ observations will be supported by extensive modeling and may be correlated with the atmospheric observations performed by the Mars Express orbiter radio science experiment and the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer.
The ATMIS scientific objectives as well as the characteristics of the atmospheric conditions and phenomena anticipated to occur at tentative NetLander landing regions are discussed. The data and energy budgets and the predicted performance of the ATMIS are presented.