Yavor Shopov
Sofia University
Bulgaria
Title: Using of thermal vision cameras for remote location of caves on Mars for immediate shelters for astronauts and storage chambers
Biography
Biography: Yavor Shopov
Abstract
Mars has much weaker magnetic field and lower density of atmosphere regarding the Earth. These results in very high cosmic radiation dose rate on the surface of Mars. Radiation measurements on the surface of Mars demonstrated that dose rate which will receive an astronaut there is around 15 times higher than Dose Limits for Radiation Workers and 750 times higher than Dose Limits for general public. Therefore manned exploration of Mars requires using of immediate shelters of astronauts during the initial stages of the planet exploration. Only natural shelters, which can be found there are caves. Daily variations of the surface temperature on Mars reach 110- 120 degrees of Celcium. Temperature inside caves does not vary during day-and-night. It is constant (in the frames of one degree) even during the year. So location of caves on Mars can be of vital importance for future manned exploration of the planet, because such caves are appropriate for storage chambers and shelters of astronauts. We develop a new technique for remote location of cave entrances using thermal vision technique. It aims to locate new unknown caves using thermal vision camera, which visualize temperature difference on the air coming from the cave and that of the surrounding areas. During Martian nights temperature on the surface of the planet is tens of degrees of Celcium colder than that in the caves below. Therefore cave entrances can be easily located by a thermal vision camera located on space probes or ROVs. We successfully performed preliminary remote locations of cave entrances on Earth to optimize this technique for work on Mars. So far there are no any cave known on Mars, but there are sure indirect indicators of their existence.
