Espectroscopia da atmosfera de Marte: em busca do metano na região da cratera de Gale

Abstract

Since 1964, when the space prober called Mariner 4 (USA) send the first detailed images of the surface of Mars, the Red Planet has attracted the attention and curiosity of the scientific community around the world. Presently, Mars is considered the planet of the solar system with the greatest number of research objects produced by humans, excluding our Earth. This ended up reflecting in the amount of available data for analysis, presenting a literally huge data-base. This research project, developed in the Space Geophysics and Planetary Astrophysics field, makes use of the data captured by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer – PFS, a Michelson double-pendulum interferometer onboard the Mars Express mission, launched by the European Space Agency – ESA, in 2003. The primary objective is to qualitatively estimate the possible existence of methane (CH4) in 9 specific regions of the atmosphere of the Red Planet, making use of the physical method called spectroscopy. For the computational reading of the data, it has been used multiple assigned and developed scripts in IDL, thereby estimating, the chances of methane being detected in selected periods of time, in the delimited regions. The target region chosen is called Gale Crater, a local where presently the rover Curiosity (EUA) is located, and is also possible to observe the biggest open-air stratigraphic column of Mars. The analysis showed that the methane is possibly more perceptible in the equinox periods (spring and autumn). The possible observation of the methane values in the spectra generated are around 2 to 4 times greater than the internal noise value of the equipment. Two specific regions of the planet stand out as a possible “source region” of the compound, requiring a more detailed study focused on these locations.