Preliminary study of UV radiation on Mars from SPICAM results and its relation to surface habitability

Mars-Express has reached Mars orbit in early 2004 and since, its instruments have measured during an entire Martian year. In particular, SPICAM has measured the nadir reflected and backscattered solar light as well as solar occultations with an almost complete planetary coverage. The UV instrument (ranging from 118 nm to 320 nm) covers the entire band of UV sterilizing radiation that could affect survivability on Mars surface. The nadir coverage, illustrated on figure 1, shows that a good climatology of ozone absorption and surface UV doses can be derived from the present data set.