9 research outputs found
Mastcam-Z multispectral database from the Perseverance roverâs traverse in the Jezero crater floor, Mars (sols 0-380)
NASAâs Mars-2020 Perseverance rover spent its first year in Jezero crater studying the mafic lava flows of the MĂĄaz formation and the ultramafic cumulates of the SĂ©Ătah formation. Perseveranceâs Mastcam-Z instrument, a pair of multispectral, stereoscopic zoom-lens cameras, provides broadband red/green/blue (RGB), narrowband visible to near-infrared color (VNIR, 440-1020 nm wavelength range). We compiled Mastcam-Z spectra from Perseveranceâs exploration of the Jezero crater floor in the first 380 sols of its mission. Here, we provide a database of ~2400 representative spectra with extensive metadata, and the locations of the regions of interest (ROIs) from which the spectra were extracted. We also include ânatural colorâ red, green, blue (RGB) images for context, âenhanced color imagesâ derived by stretching narrowband images, and âdecorrelation stretchâ (DCS) images. This dataset can serve as a baseline to interpret future observations from Perseveranceâs ongoing exploration of Jezero crater, Mars
Search for magnetic minerals in Martian rocks: Overview of the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) magnet investigation on Spirit and Opportunity:Part E - Planets
Overview of the microscopic imager investigation during spirit's first 450 sols in gusev crater
Indication of drier periods on Mars from the chemistry and mineralogy of atmospheric dust
The ubiquitous atmospheric dust on Mars is well mixed by periodic global dust storms, and such dust carries information about the environment in which it once formed and hence about the history of water on Mars. The Mars Exploration Rovers have permanent magnets to collect atmospheric dust for investigation by instruments on the rovers. Here we report results from Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence of dust particles captured from the martian atmosphere by the magnets. The dust on the magnets contains magnetite and olivine; this indicates a basaltic origin of the dust and shows that magnetite, not maghemite, is the mineral mainly responsible for the magnetic properties of the dust. Furthermore, the dust on the magnets contains some ferric oxides, probably including nanocrystalline phases, so some alteration or oxidation of the basaltic dust seems to have occurred. The presence of olivine indicates that liquid water did not play a dominant role in the processes that formed the atmospheric dust.Additional co-authors: Daniel S Rodionov, Paulo A de Souza, Jr, Steve W Squyres, Tom Wdowiak, Albert Yen
Output Type: Lette
Overview of the Microscopic Imager Investigation during Spirit's first 450 sols in Gusev crater
Isotope ratios of H, C, and O in CO2 and H2O of the Martian atmosphere
Stable isotope ratios of H, C, and O are powerful indicators of a wide variety of planetary geophysical processes, and for Mars they reveal the record of loss of its atmosphere and subsequent interactions with its surface such as carbonate formation. We report in situ measurements of the isotopic ratios of D/H and O-18/O-16 in water and C-13/C-12, O-18/O-16, O-17/O-16, and (CO)-C-13-O-18/(CO)-C-12-O-16 in carbon dioxide, made in the martian atmosphere at Gale Crater from the Curiosity rover using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)'s tunable laser spectrometer (TLS). Comparison between our measurements in the modern atmosphere and those of martian meteorites such as ALH 84001 implies that the martian reservoirs of CO2 and H2O were largely established similar to 4 billion years ago, but that atmospheric loss or surface interaction may be still ongoing