NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity landed on the planet Mars in August 2012. Since then, the rover has continuously collected environmental measurement data.
Among the measurements are humidity and pressure – parameters that are measured by sensors supplied by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, using measurement technologies from Vaisala.
Mars is dusty and cold, with a thin atmosphere. The average temperature is about −63 °C, but daytime surface temperature highs of +35 °C have been recorded. From a research perspective, Mars offers an opportunity to better understand the ways in which Earth has evolved and how it may change in the future.
The rover is mobile, which means that it is acting as a weather station in multiple locations. In addition, NASA’s latest Mars rover, Perseverance is also now travelling across the surface of Mars, taking measurements with similar Vaisala technologies. Operating about 2,000 km apart, the two rovers are laying the foundations for an atmospheric observation network, which is needed to better understand and predict the Martian weather.
The Vaisala measurement technologies deployed on Curiosity and Perseverance are essentially the same as those that are in everyday use in almost every industry on Earth. However, Vaisala made a slight modification to the pressure sensor in order to accommodate the low ranges that are experienced on Mars.