Imaging Spectrometer, Mars

Fig. 8.28 External view of the MIMOS II sensor head without contact plate assembly (left) MIMOS II sensor head mounted on the robotic arm (IDD) of the Mars Exploration Rover. The IDD also carries the a-Particle-X-ray Spectrometer APXS, also from Mainz, Germany, for elemental analysis, the Microscope Imager MI for high resolution microscopic pictures ( 30 pm per pixel), and the RAT for sample preparation (brushing grinding drilling (< 1 cm depth)). Picture taken at Kennedy-Space-Center KSC, Florida, USA...

Spectrometers on several spacecraft have provided information on the mineralogy of the martian surface, but only one set of spectral data is sufficiently quantitative to be recast into geochemistry. The thermal emission spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor and the thermal emission spectrometer imaging system (THEMIS) on Mars Odyssey have provided global mineral mapping, and linear deconvolution allows the... 

These important questions will be addressed, at least in part, in future spacecraft missions. Two Mars Exploration Rovers, which are to arrive in early 2004, will carry a battery of instruments (Mossbauer, infrared, and visible spectrometers, APXS, microscopic imager, and a rock abrasion tool to remove dust and weathered coatings) that may analyze samples of the ancient crustal rocks... 

Fig. 2.47 The scientific payioad of the Mars Expioration Rovers consists of the remote sensing Panoramic Camera (Pancam) and the Miniature Thermai Emission Spectrometer Mini-TES) the in situ or contact instruments Microscopic Imager (Ml), Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), Mossbauer spectrometer (MB), and the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) the Magnetic Properties Experiment (NASA/JPL/Comeii) [77]...

Spirit rovers) included mainly X-ray spectrometers and imagers. It was not until 2007 with the launch of the Phoenix Mars lander mission that the first electroan-alytical measurement system was delivered to the martian surface. Here we present the historical context of the first electroanalyses on Mars, an overall description of the electrochemically based sensors that were part of the Phoenix Wet Chemistry Laboratory (WCL), the results of the martian soil analyses and their implications, the most recent Earth-based experiments, and a preview of the next-generation electroanalytical instruments currently in development for upcoming missions to Mars and beyond. 

Fig. 3.13 This spectrum, taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit s Moessbauer spectrometer, shows the presence of an iron-bearing mineral called goethite in a rock called Clovis in the Columbia HUls of Mars. Goethite contains water in the form of hydroxyl as a part of its structure. By identifying this mineral, the examination of Clovis produced strong evidence for past water activity in the area that Spirit is exploring. Image Credit NASA/JPL/University of Mainz...

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