Science Instruments: REMS

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

The Mars Science Laboratory rover would carry a weather monitoring station provided by the government of Spain on behalf of investigators at the Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC). The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station would provide a daily report of atmospheric weather conditions on Mars. Attached to the vertical mast on the Mars Science Laboratory deck, the station would measure atmospheric pressure, humidity, ultraviolet radiation from the sun, wind speed, wind direction, ground temperature, and air temperature.

A sensor in the electronics box would measure atmospheric pressure. Separate sensors would track humidity and ultraviolet radiation. Two wind sensors would detect and characterize atmospheric circulation. An XY wind sensor would measure wind direction moving horizontally, similar to breezes blowing across the surface on Earth, and a Z wind sensor would measure vertical atmospheric movement, such as thermal currents moving up or down.