MENCA (Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser)

The MENCA experiment from SPL, VSSC is one among the five experiments onboard the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), the first Indian Mars mission. MENCA is a quadrupole mass spectrometer based scientific payload, capable of measuring relative abundances of neutral constituents in the mass range  1 to 300 amu, with unit mass resolution. In addition to acquiring the mass spectra in a specified mass range, the instrument has a provision to track the time variation of the abundances of a set of selected species. The primary science goal of MENCA is the in-situ measurement of composition of neutral species in the Martian exosphere, and to examine its radial variation. The observation from MENCA are vital in understanding the escape of the Martian atmosphere.

MENCA Publications:

Bhardwaj, A., S. V. Mohankumar, T. P. Das, P. Pradeepkumar, P. Sreelatha, B. Sundar, A. Nandi, D. P. Vajja, M. B. Dhanya, N. Naik, G. Supriya, R. S. Thampi, G. P. Padmanabhan, V. K. Yadav, A. V. Aliyas (2015), "MENCA Experiment aboard India’s Mars Orbiter Mission", Current Science, 109 (6), 1-8.

Bhardwaj, A., S. V. Thampi, T. P. Das, M. B. Dhanya, N. Naik, D. P. Vajja, P. Pradeepkumar, P. Sreelatha, G. Supriya, J. K. Abhishek, S. V. Mohankumar, R. S. Thampi, V. K. Yadav, B. Sundar, A. Nandi, G. P. Padmanabhan, and A. V. Aliyas (2016), "On the evening time exosphere of Mars: Result from MENCA aboard Mars Orbiter Mission", Geophysical Research Letters, doi: 110.1002/2016GL067707.

MENCA Highlights:

ISRO Story of the Week, "MENCA observed the evening exosphere of Mars", May 02, 2016.