Description of Supplemental Information for "Atmospheric Entry Profiles from the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity" by Withers and Smith

Contents:
This README file
mer1table.dat
mer2table.dat

mer1table.dat contains the reconstructed trajectory and atmospheric structure for MER-1 = MER-B = Opportunity. mer2table.dat contains the reconstructed trajectory and atmospheric structure for MER-2 = MER-A = Spirit. The two files have the same format, but slightly different lengths.

Each file contains a preamble giving the file size and description of contents, followed by the results. The results are time, radial distance, latitude, longitude, axial acceleration, normal acceleration, CA, CN, angle of attack, Mach number, Knudsen number, density, pressure, and temperature, together with 1-sigma uncertainties in each quantity. With the exception of the Mach number (Ma) and the Knudsen number (Kn), each quantity is defined in the associated Icarus paper. Ma and Kn are important for determining the aerodynamic properties of the entry vehicle (CA and CN) from the aerodynamic database. They are defined as 

Kn = MMW / (sqrt(2) x pi x MD x rho x NA x DMER)

where MMW is the mean molecular mass, MD is the molecular diameter, rho is density, NA is Avogadro's number, and DMER is the spacecraft diameter. MMW and DMER are given in the associated Icarus paper, MD is 4.64A (Schoenenbeger et al., 2005), NA is a known constant, and rho comes from the associated Icarus paper.

Ma = vrel / sqrt( gamma x R * T / MMW )

where gamma is the ratio of specific heats, R is the universal gas constant, T is temperature, and MMW is the mean molecular mass.
Gamma is 7/5, the value for an ideal linear polyatomic gas, R is a known constant, T comes from the associated Icarus paper, and MMW is given in the associated Icarus paper.

Some of these data products (time, axial acceleration, and normal acceleration) were taken directly from the PDS archive. The other data products (radial distance, latitude, longitude, CA, CN, angle of attack, Mach number, Knudsen number, density, pressure, and temperature) were derived from them as detailed in the associated Icarus paper. The error analysis is also described in the associated Icarus paper.