Performance analysis of the “MicroMED” Optical Particle Counter in windy conditions

The Optical Particle Counter “MicroMED” will be part of the ExoMars 2022 mission and aims to provide the first ever direct measurement of airborne Martian dust. The instrument has been tested at the INAF - OAC premises, where a Martian chamber is present, simulating the Martian environment in terms of pressure, instrument temperature, atmosphere composition and the presence of dust. However, tests in the presence of wind are also needed for the instrument characterization. To this purpose, a test campaign at the AWTS II simulator at the Aarhus University (Denmark) was performed, testing the instrument in the presence of winds up to 15 m/s. Such tests are important since wind is the main agent of landscape modification on Mars. The present work describes the results of such tests, showing the variation of the instrument detecting ability with the wind speed, as well as the influence of temperature on performances.