The 2023 study led by P. Luo from the Beijing Institute of Optoelectronic Technology delves into the significant yet challenging area of spacecraft engine plume effects on the Martian surface during landing phases. This research is pivotal for future Mars missions, addressing the safety risks of plume-induced surface erosion and visibility obstruction. These risks are crucial to ensuring successful and safe landings on Mars.
Central to this study is data analysis from the Tianwen-1 mission, which sheds light on the erosion and impingement effects caused by spacecraft landings on Mars. The mission’s data reveals a complex process of surface depressions and infillings occurring during the descent of a spacecraft. A key finding of this research is identifying plume-induced effects as a significant threat to lander safety. The discovery has suggested that spacecraft with multiple-nozzle configurations could offer safer landing alternatives.
The Martian environment presents unique challenges for such investigations. Factors like near-surface water ice, a thin Martian atmosphere, and the nature of Martian regolith – more geologically sorted than lunar regolith – add complexity to the study. The research explicitly explores particle ejection dynamics from the plumes, focusing on the relationship between the particles’ velocity and distance from the nozzle centerline.
One of the study’s notable conclusions is the observation of darker grains and rocks exposed near the Tianwen-1 lander, indicative of the patterns expected from engine plume interactions with the Martian surface. This finding aligns with and supports earlier studies in this field.
However, the researchers acknowledge several limitations in their work. The estimation of the total erosion volume is hampered by factors such as the infilling of depressions and the limited availability of detailed terrain images. Consequently, their estimates carry a significant uncertainty margin and represent a lower limit of the impacted volume. Additionally, the sparse timing of shots from landing cameras limits the ability to study the plume-surface interaction in real-time. Estimating long-term plume-induced regolith erosion rates is also challenging due to the limited number of Mars landings and the variability in engine thrust and configurations across different missions.
In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of understanding plume-surface interactions on Mars, not just for the safety and success of future landings but also to enrich our knowledge of Mars’ geological characteristics.
P. Luo et al., “Plume effects on Martian surface: Revealing evolution characteristics of plume-surface interaction at Tianwen-1 landing site,” Engineering Geology, vol. 325, p. 107278, Nov. 2023, doi: .
