PFS:A FOURIER SPECTROMETER FOR THE STUDY OF MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE

The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer PFS has been designed for the study of the atmosphere and soil of Mars. PFS has two infrared channels: a long wavelength (LW) channel with range 250 - 2000 cm-’ and a short wavelength (SW) channel with range 2000 - 8333 cm-‘. The spectral resolution is 2 cm-‘. Both channels work simultaneously. The field of view is 2” which covers 10 km on the Martian surface being observed from the pericenter at 300 km. The signal to noise ratio is better than 100 in a range of particular scientific interest (at 650 cm-’ , for example). The built-in pointing device allows to study the atmosphere over extreme regions like Hellas Planitia or Olympus Mons.