MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR ORBITER RADIO SCIENCE DERIVED TEMPERATURE PROFILE DATA PAGE
Atmospheric vertical profiles derived from MGS Radio Science occultation measurements



















Above are shown examples of the MGS Radio Science atmospheric temperature profiles derived from radio occultation measurements (left figure), as well as an indication of the latitude locations of all 21243 MGS Radio Science derived vertical temperature profiles (right figure above). MORE TEXT HERE measured spacecraft deceleration during an aerobraking drag pass. For each drag pass (spanning orbits 18 - 445 of the mission) there is an individual ASCII PROFILE file containing derived density values at 1-second intervals for a time period spanning several hundred seconds centered upon the periapse time. There is also a separate ASCII ALTITUDE file which provides derived density and scale height values at specified altitudes (100 km, 110 km, etc.) for both the inbound and outbound portions of the orbit/drag pass as well as at the periapsis altitude, and 1.26 nanobar pressure level during both the inbound and outbound portions of the orbit/drag pass.

The data contained within the MGS AEROBRAKING PDS archive MROA_0001 are provided in either the ALTITUDE or PROFILE folders within the DATA folder. Within both the PROFILE and ALTITUDE folders a user will find subfolders containing ~100 drag passes of data, with each drag pass consisting of a single ASCII file. For instance, the data presented in the left figure above are from the L2P306.TAB file located within the P300_399 folder within the PROFILE folder, while the data presented in the right-side figure above are located in the L3P306.TAB file located in the P300_399 folder located within the ALTITUDE folder. RAW MRO accelerometer data are also available within their own folder below the DATA folder. Very similar derived spacecraft aerobraking data, with archive structures very similar to this MRO aerobraking archive, are also available from the MGS mission (mgsa_0002) and also the Mars Odyssey mission (odya_0001).

For information about the Mars Global Surveyor Radio Science atmospheric profile data set, click here
For information about the Mars Global Surveyor mission, click here
For information about the Mars Global Surveyor Radio Science experiment/instrument, click here