The Petrochemistry of Jake_M: A Martian Mugearite

“Jake_M,” the first rock analyzed by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the Curiosity rover, differs substantially in chemical composition from other known martian igneous rocks: It is alkaline (&gt;15% normative nepheline) and relatively fractionated. Jake_M is compositionally similar to terrestrial mugearites, a rock type typically found at ocean islands and continental rifts. By analogy with these comparable terrestrial rocks, Jake_M could have been produced by extensive fractional crystallization of a primary alkaline or transitional magma at elevated pressure, with or without elevated water contents. The discovery of Jake_M suggests that alkaline magmas may be more abundant on Mars than on Earth and that Curiosity could encounter even more fractionated alkaline rocks (for example, phonolites and trachytes).</jats:p

Mars’ Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity Rover

The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover began making detailed measurements of the cosmic ray and energetic particle radiation environment on the surface of Mars on 7 August 2012. We report and discuss measurements of the absorbed dose and dose equivalent from galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles on the martian surface for ~300 days of observations during the current solar maximum. These measurements provide insight into the radiation hazards associated with a human mission to the surface of Mars and provide an anchor point with which to model the subsurface radiation environment, with implications for microbial survival times of any possible extant or past life, as well as for the preservation of potential organic biosignatures of the ancient martian environment.</jats:p

Infrared spectroscopy of Mars

When measured with sufficient spectral range, resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio, nearly every mineral has a unique infrared spectral signature. However, determining which minerals are present on Mars using infrared spectroscopy has proven to be very difficult. The goal of this work is to examine complicating factors inherent to spacecraft-based infrared spectral measurements of Mars, and to determine methods to extract mineralogical information from spectra that cover the wavelength range 0.77 to 50 mum. On Earth, infrared spectra of an unknown mineral or gas can be measured under controlled conditions. However, a spacecraft spectrometer measures Mars through both atmospheric gases and aerosols, and at varying viewing geometries. Spectra of the surface of Mars have very subtle variations, so examining them requires well-calibrated spectra of excellent quality, and extended spectral range. These combined effects greatly complicate interpretations. The work presented here details a straightforward method to remove effects of varying viewing geometry on near-infrared spectra of Mars, using 1989 Phobos 2 ISM spectra. Next, it details the recovery and calibration of the 1969 Mariner Mars IRS data set, and presents IRS spectral evidence for goethite on Mars. Finally, a method is developed to utilize night spectra to examine the aerosol mineralogy, followed by a discussion of the importance of accounting for the aerosol re-emission when utilizing day measurements to examine surface mineralogy. This work utilizes spectra from all five infrared spectrometers flown to Mars. It addresses a range of issues, but the unifying theme is how to extract mineralogic information from the spectra. The results show that the most important spectral criteria for determining mineralogy from spacecraft infrared spectra are an extended spectral range, high spectral resolution, and high signal-to-noise ratio. Here, an extended spectral range is defined as coverage of at least two of the three infrared spectral regions: reflected (&sim;0.8--3 mum), overtone (&sim;3--7 mum), and fundamental (&sim;7--50 mum). Spectra with low spectral resolution, low spectral range, or low signal-to-noise ratio allow different spectral type units to be mapped, but such data sets do not provide enough information to determine uniquely the mineral phases present

Technique For Achieving High Throughput With A Pushbroom Imaging Spectrometer

Static Fourier transform spectrometers have the ability to combine the principle advantages of the two traditional techniques used for imaging spectrometry: The throughput advantage offered by Fourier transform spectrometers, and the advantage of no moving parts offered by dispersive spectrometers. The imaging versions of these spectrometers obtain both spectral information, and spatial information in one dimension, in a single exposure. The second spatial dimension may be obtained by sweeping a narrow field mask across the object while acquiring successive exposures. When employed as a pushbroom sensor from an aircraft or spacecraft, no moving parts are required, since the platform itself provides this motion. But the use of this narrow field mask to obtain the second spatial dimension prevents the throughput advantage from being realized. We present a technique that allows the use of a field stop that is wide in the along-track direction, while preserving the spatial resolution, and thus enables such an instrument to actually exploit the throughput advantage when used as a pushbroom sensor. The basis of this advance is a deconvolution technique we have developed to recover the spatial resolution in data acquired with a field stop that is wide in the along-track direction. The effectiveness is demonstrated by application of this deconvolution technique to simulated data

Comparison Of Signal Collection Abilities Of Different Classes Of Imaging Spectrometers

Although the throughput and multiplex advantages of Fourier transform spectrometry were established in the early 1950\u27s (by Jacquinot11,2,3 and Fellgettz4,5 respectively) confusion and debate6 arise when these advantages are cited in reference to imaging spectrometry. In non-imaging spectrometry the terms throughput and spectra! bandwidth clearly refer to the throughput of the entire field-of-view (FOV), and the spectral bandwidth of the entire FOV, but in imaging spectrometry these terms may refer to either the entire FOV or to a single element in the FOV. The continued development of new and fundamentally different types of imaging spectrometers also adds to the complexity of predictions of signal and comparisons of signal collection abilities. Imaging spectrometers used for remote sensing may be divided into classes according to how they relate the object space coordinates of cross-track position, along-track position, and wavelength (or wavenumber) to the image space coordinates of column number, row number, and exposure number for the detector array. This transformation must be taken into account when predicting the signal or comparing the signal collection abilities of different classes of imaging spectrometer. The invariance of radiance in an imaging system allows the calculation of signal to be performed at any space in the system, from the object space to the final image space. Our calculations of signal - performed at several different spaces in several different classes of imaging spectrometer - show an interesting result; regardless of the plane in which the calculation is performed, interferometric (Fourier transform) spectrometers have a dramatic advantage in signal, but the term in the signal equation from which the advantage results depends upon the space in which the calculation is performed. In image space, the advantage results from the spectral term in the signal equation, suggesting that this could be referred to as the multiplex (Fellgett) advantage. In an intermediate image plane the advantage results from a difference in a spatial term, while for the exit pupil plane it results from the angular term, both of which suggest the throughput (Jacquinot) advantage. When the calculation is performed in object coordinates the advantage results from differences in the temporal term