Mars Research
We are involved in most of the current and programmed missions to Mars as Principal Investigators and co-Investigators (REMS/Curiosity, HABIT/Exomars Surface Platform, ACS/Trace Gas Orbiter, ISEM/ExoMars rover, …). For these missions, we participate in the operations, data analysis, publication and outreach activities.
We also conduct Mars research analysing Martian analogues on Earth.
Environmental Research
Including Climate Change studies, Glaciology and Hydrology
Collaboration with Biological Sciences
Aerobiology and Planetary Protection activities
We are starting these two projects:
- Impact of microorganisms in climate change
- Development of a MinION for space with Oxford Nanopore Technologies (DNA sequencing / Mars Sample Return/ Search for life on Mars)
Geophysics
Including Geomorphological studies, 3D mapping system and geological studies, Geothermal survey of the subsurface of Mars and Earthquake analysis
Remote sensing and Radiative Transfer of Earth and planetary atmospheres
including retrieval of atmospheric species and development of retrieval and radiative transfer tools. Prof. Martin-Torres is the author of the worldwide used line-by-line radiative transfer code FUTBOLIN (Full Transfer By Optimized LINe-by-line).
We are co-Investigators of the instrument Far-infrared- Outgoing-Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM), of the ESA Earth Explorer Mission– 9; an instrument that will monitor from satellite for the first time the full far-infrared spectrum emitted to space by the Earth´s atmosphere.
Remove sensing of glaciers and modelling glacio-hydrology, including UAVs as remote sensing platforms for glaciology, vegetation, terrain modelling, archaeology, coastal research, …
Hardware development
We develop instrumentation for Earth and planetary exploration and research. From idea to hardware development, including calibration, operations and data analysis. We test the instruments in our chambers dedicated for testing their operation, for varying temperatures, atmospheric compositions and pressures.
Astrobiology
We investigate biomarkers (their fixation, transport, protection) on Mars and Earth environments. We have participated in the first detections on Mars of discoveries of conditions of liquid water (cover of Nature Geoscience), In-situ methane on Mars (published in Science), Nitrogen fixed on Martian soil (published in PNAS), Organics on Mars (cover of Journal of Geophys. Res-Planets) , Manganese Oxides on Mars (Geophys. Res. Letters), redox gradients in a fluid environment (published in Science).
We are involved in NASA, ESA and COSPAR panels.