The MARS'96/BALTE balloon mission to Mars: preliminary results of numerical simulations

Abstract

The BALloon Television Experiment (BALTE), to be launched in 1996 as part of the MARS'96 mission of Russia, is devoted to high spatial resolution imaging of the surface of planet Mars. Four cameras on board a balloon flying freely in the Martian atmosphere at an altitude of about 3500 meters, will image the ground at resolutions ranging from ten meters up to twenty centimeters. The results of numerical simulations show that:

• - despite the complex movement of the cameras, sharp images can be obtained, with nominal exposure time ranging between three and ten milliseconds;

• - the computation of the vertical profile of the wind speed and the realisation of photomosaics should be possible thanks to a stringent operation schedule of the cameras, both on the ascending and maximum altitude phases; this should also create some great opportunities for stereovision.