The optical depth sensor (ODS) is a meteorological instrument designed for the in-situ monitoring of daily Martian dust opacity over a long period of time. Additionally, it could provide valuable information on aerosol size distribution and on cloud coverage at sunset and sunrise. The instrument was developed for the MARS96 Russian mission which unfortunately failed and the ATMIS meteorological package on the NETLANDER mission which unfortunately was cancelled. The instrument’s main attractive features for a meteorological mission to Mars are its light weight, low requirements of energy and data transfer resources. It can be installed along with other meteorological equipments on small stations or rovers.
The instrument also has application in measuring aerosol optical depth, day and night, and detecting high and thin cirrus at twilight in the desert of Earth.
The instrument is developped at Service d'Aéronomie, France. The team includes Jean-Pierre Pommereau (the P.I.), Christian Malique, Jean-Luc Maria, Pascal Rannou, Tran The Trung, Jean-Jacques Correia, Jacques Porteneuve and François Forget (from LMD).
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