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The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment on the InSight Mission to Mars

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Abstract

The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) on-board the InSight mission will use the lander’s X-band (8 GHz) radio system in combination with tracking stations of the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to determine the rotation of Mars. RISE will measure the nutation of the Martian spin axis, detecting for the first time the effect of the liquid core of Mars and providing in turn new constraints on the core radius and density. RISE will also measure changes in the rotation rate of Mars on seasonal time-scales thereby constraining the atmospheric angular momentum budget. Finally, RISE will provide a superb tie between the cartographic and inertial reference frames. This paper describes the RISE scientific objectives and measurements, and provides the expected results of the experiment.

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Notes

  1. A first low accuracy estimate of polar motion amplitudes has been inferred from gravity degree-2 coefficients by Konopliv et al. (2006), but no direct measurements of it has been performed until now.

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Acknowledgements

This research was carried out in part by the InSight Project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and in part at the Royal Observatory of Belgium with financial support by the Belgian PRODEX program managed by the European Space Agency in collaboration with the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office. This is InSight Contribution Number 53.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA

    William M. Folkner, Sami W. Asmar & Matthew P. Golombek

  2. Royal Observatory of Belgium, av. Circulaire 3, Brussels, 1180, Belgium

    Véronique Dehant, Sébastien Le Maistre, Marie Yseboodt, Attilio Rivoldini & Tim Van Hoolst

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  1. William M. Folkner
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  2. Véronique Dehant
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Correspondence to William M. Folkner.

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The InSight Mission to Mars II

Edited by William B. Banerdt and Christopher T. Russell

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Folkner, W.M., Dehant, V., Le Maistre, S. et al. The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment on the InSight Mission to Mars. Space Sci Rev 214, 100 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-018-0530-5

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