Studying of water consent in Mars' gale crater: The first results of the DAN experiment on the NASA curiosity rover

I. G. Mitrofanov, M. L. Litvak, A. B. Sanin, D. I. Lisov, R. O. Kuzmin, Alberto E Behar, W. V. Boynton, C. Hardgrove, K. Harshman, I. Jun, R. Milliken, M. A. Mischna, J. E. Moersch, R. Starr, C. G. Tate

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mars's Gale Crater is located near the equator and is 155 km in diameter. The crater is estimated to be 3.5 3.8 billion years old. It originates from a large asteroid strike in the Noachian period. The primary scientific objective of the NASA Curiosity rover is to find out whether the early Mars environment was favorable for the origin and sustenance of primitive life forms. The answer to this question may be obtained from the Martian soil samples analyses by the instruments onboard the rover. As water is believed to be the main chemical substance containing hydrogen in the Martian soil, the active neutron probing provides a means of measuring water content along the traverse of the rover. The leaking neutron flux also changes with variations in the abundance of elements with high capture cross sections.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)126-128
Number of pages3
JournalDoklady Physics
Volume59
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2014
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computational Mechanics
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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