Serverless Architecture for Data Processing and Detecting Anomalies with the Mars Express MARSIS Instrument

Abstract

The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) on board Mars Express has been sampling the topside ionosphere of Mars since mid-2005. The analysis of the main reflection (nadir) of the ionosphere through the ionograms provided by the MARSIS instrument is typically performed manually due to the high noise level in the lower frequencies. This task, which involves pattern recognition, turns out to be unfeasible for the >2 million ionograms available at the European Planetary Science Archive. In the present contribution, we propose a modular architecture based on serverless computing (a paradigm that stands on the cloud) for optimal processing of these ionograms. In particular, we apply serverless computing to detect oblique echoes in the ionosphere, which are nonnadir reflections produced when MARSIS is sounding regions above or nearby crustal magnetic fields, where the ionosphere loses the spherical symmetry. Oblique echoes are typically observed at similar frequencies to the nadir reflections but at different times delays, sometimes even overlaying the nadir reflection. Oblique echoes are difficult to analyze with the standard technique due to their nonconstant and highly variable appearance, but they harbor essential information on the state of the ionosphere over magnetized regions. In this work we compare the proposed serverless architecture with two local alternatives while processing a representative data subset and finally provide a study by means of cost and performance.

Keywords

• Mars
• Planetary ionospheres