I - 2.1

Entry/Descent Instrumentation - a Review

R.D. Lorenz

Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721. USA

email: rlorenz@lpl.arizona.edu

I will review the instrumentation types and techniques for planetary entry and descent probes, with particular reference to the 'simple' sensor types - temperature, pressure and acceleration. Various technical subtleties pertain to each of these measurements, and the very wide parameter space (near-vacuum to >50 bar pressure; 70K to 700K and higher, and micro-g to >100g decelerations) poses challenges to the instrument designer. Features of various sensor types are discussed.

Additionally, I consider some other sensors that have either not yet perfomed on a planetary probe (e.g. speed-of-sound sensors) or that have been forgotten (entry shock layer spectroscopy).