The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station is nicknamed REMS, and it contains all the weather instruments needed to provide daily and seasonal reports on meteorological conditions around the rover.

Tech Specs

Main Job

Weather station to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds, plus ultraviolet radiation levels.

Location

Two "bolt-like" booms on the rover's mast ("neck") that measure wind, ground temperature and humidity UV sensor on the rover deck ("back") about 1.5 meters above ground level pressure sensor inside the rover body and connected to the external atmosphere via a tube that exits the rover body through a small opening with protection against dust deposition.

Capability Designed to survive a -130 °C to +70 °C temperature range and minimize power consumption for operation.

Measurements

Autonomously record at least 5 minutes of data at 1 Hz each hour, every sol (Martian day), for all sensors (i.e., total baseline of two hours per sol); maximum of three hours of operation per sol allows a continuous block of monitoring time if desired.



Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS)

Rover Environmental Monitoring Station: The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station will monitor atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind currents, and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial)

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The Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB), a joint center of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas - Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (CSIC-INTA), provided a weather monitoring station contributed by the Spanish government and carried by the Mars Science Laboratory rover.

REMS measures and provides daily and seasonal reports on atmospheric pressure, humidity, ultraviolet radiation at the Martian surface, air temperature, and ground temperature around the rover.

Two small booms extend from the rover mast. A suite of infrared sensors on one of the booms (Boom 1) measures the intensity of infrared radiation emitted by the ground, which provides an estimate of ground temperature. A sensor on the other boom (Boom 2) tracks atmospheric humidity. Both booms carry sensors for measuring air temperature.

Weather Sensors from Spain on Mars Rover Curiosity: Sensors on two finger-like mini-booms extending horizontally from the mast of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will monitor wind speed, wind direction and air temperature. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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A sensor inside the rover's chassis, exposed to the atmosphere through a small "chimney," measures changes in pressure caused by different meteorological events such as dust devils, atmospheric tides, and cold and warm fronts. A small filter shields the sensor against dust contamination.

On the rover deck is an array of detectors that are sensitive to specific frequencies of sunlight. These measure ultraviolet radiation at the Martian surface and correlate it with changes in the other environmental variables.