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Detailed Reference Information
Madsen et al. 2003
Madsen, M.B., Bertelsen, P., Goetz, W., Binau, C.S., Olsen, M., Folkmann, F., Gunnlaugsson, H.P., Kinch, K.M., Knudsen, J.M., Merrison, J., Nørnberg, P., Squyres, S.W., Yen, A.S., Rademacher, J.D., Gorevan, S., Myrick, T. and Bartlett, P. (2003). Magnetic Properties Experiments on the Mars Exploration Rover mission. Journal of Geophysical Research 108: doi: 10.1029/2002JE002029. issn: 0148-0227.

The Mars Exploration Rovers each carry a set of Magnetic Properties Experiments designed with the following objectives in mind: (1) to identify the magnetic mineral(s) in the dust, soil and rocks on Mars, (2) to establish if the magnetic material is present in the form of nanosized (d < 10 nm) superparamagnetic crystallites embedded in the micrometer sized airborne dust particles, and (3) to establish if the magnets are culling a subset of strongly magnetic particles or if essentially all particles of the airborne dust are sufficiently magnetic to be attracted by the magnets. To accomplish these goals, the Mars Exploration Rovers each carry a set of permanent magnets of several different strengths and sizes. Each magnet has its own specific objective. The dust collected from the atmosphere by the Capture magnet and the Filter magnet (placed on the front of each rover) will be studied by the M¿ssbauer spectrometer and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, both of which are instruments located on the rover's Instrument Deployment Device. The captured dust particles will also be imaged by the Pancam and Microscopic Imager. The Sweep magnet will be imaged by Pancam and is placed near the Pancam calibration target. The four magnets in the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) are designed to capture magnetic particles originating from the grinding of Martian surface rocks. The magnetic particles captured by the RAT magnets will be imaged by Pancam.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Planetology, Solar System Objects, Mars, Physical Properties of Rocks, Magnetic and electrical properties, Planetary Sciences, Composition, Mineralogy and Petrology, Planetary mineralogy and petrology, Mineral Physics, NMR, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and other magnetic techniques
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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