The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) instrument onboard the Mars Express mission (European Space Agency, ESA) recorded a very large dataset of spectra, thanks to 10 years of orbital observation around the Red Planet, at various places, local time and season, with unprecedented spectral resolution. Among other new detection, the PFS provided a very debated seasonal detection of atmospheric methane of several parts by billions. If true, this detection implies a large amount of methane released at present time, but also imply that methane is destructed very efficiently. Several candidate processes are proposed, including rocks alteration or life. This question has been considered at the top level by the ESA at the point to send the ExoMars Trace Gaz Orbiter mission (planed to launch in 2016 and arrive in 2017) to unravel this mystery.
Description
The main objective of this PhD program will be to correct the major limitation of the PFS instrument to have access to local atmospheric properties: the effect of micro-vibrations that can be corrected by blind deconvolution using complex variables.
Nr of positions available : 1
Research Fields
Astronomy - Other
Geosciences - Other
Computer science - Other
Career Stage
Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)
Research Profiles
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Benefits
Student who spend less than two years before PhD in France.
Student with equivalent Master degree.
High academic skills in at least two domains : signal processing, physics, programming, planetary science, remote sensing