ExoMars Climate Sounder (EMCS)

01 November 2011

The Infrared Multilayer Laboratory has commenced work on a prestigious new project for the design, development and fabrication of space-flight infrared optics for the NASA/ESA ExoMars Climate Sounder (EMCS) Development Study radiometer. This instrument is destined to fly on the NASA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (EMTGO) mission due for launch in 2016. The project, in conjunction with the University of Oxford, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, is to develop special miniature infrared filters for the instrument optical payload.

The ExoMars Climate Sounder (EMCS) instrument will map daily, global, pole-to-pole profiles of temperature, dust, water and carbon dioxide ices, and water vapour from the planetary atmosphere. The filters will help provide measurements that are to be assimilated into Mars global circulation models. EMCS will look through the full cross-section of the Martian atmosphere using 9 spectral channels from 12-45 micron wavelengths to characterise the trace gases with a goal to enhance understanding of Mars photochemistry, aerosol distribution, and water vapour concentrations.