Final Report Summary - MARS VNIR SPECTRA (Mars Mineralogy and Implications for Habitability: Using Visible Near-Infrared (VNIR) Spectroscopy to Quantify Surface Composition etc)
The research activity of Bethany Ehlmann, performed in our team under the Maris Curie action entitled Mars VNIR Spectra, addresses the characterization of Mars early History, specifically with respect to the role liquid water might have played.
Key records of this ancient era exist as hydrated minerals, still preserved in Mars highly cratered terrains, as small spots that can be identified, characterized and located from Mars orbit. The data sets one needs to use are primarily provided by to two space instruments, OMEGA (developed, and operated, under our responsibility) and CRISM (to which we are associated), operating respectively on the ESA Mars Express mission, and on the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. They consist in 'hyperspectral imagers', acquiring for each imaged pixel the spectrum of the solar reflected light, in the visible and the near infrared (VNIR): this spectral domain contains diagnostic signatures enabling to identify the constitutive constituents, in particular of the minerals present at Mars surface.
When Bethany came in, we had already discovered Martian clays with the OMEGA instrument, indicative of an early alteration of the Martian crust. Her task was to pursue the spatial coverage, with the higher resolution that CRISM images provide, and to compile all information relevant to the potential formation processes of these hydrated minerals: what clues can they provide as to the early aqueous processes that operated at Mars? This task has been totally completed, and formalized in a review paper published in Nature at the very end of her stay in our team.
The second objective of her activity was to contribute to the definition and characterization of a new generation of instruments, named MicrOmega, designed to characterize samples, at their grain scale, through in situ hyperspectral microscopy in the VNIR spectral range. This activity was conceived as a support to a PhD activity (that of Cedric Pilorget), which had started in our team: it also led to very constructive cooperation, which will extend in the coming years.
Altogether, although limited to a one year postdoctoral activity, since M. Ehlmann was offered a permanent position at CalTech in Pasadena, California, her contribution to our team activity has been very fruitful. We have tied very strong links that do enable to pursue joined activities, and open new avenues of research. Specifically, her position at CalTech being in large part coupled to her role as Participating Scientist in the Mars Science Laboraty (MSL) / Curiosity mission, it offers us a direct access to one of the most promising space exploration mission: in a very near term, Cedric Pilorget will leave to Caltech for his postdoctoral activity, that will be centred on the MSL mission outcomes.
On a longer timescale, it opens to Europe the possibility to contribute to NASA Mars exploration missions, through our MicrOmega instrument to which Bethany contributed. This instrument could play a major role in the selection of Martian samples to be brought back to Earth in the next decade of Mars missions: the Mars Sample Return will constitute a major endeavour, as a joined programme between NASA and Europe.
Key records of this ancient era exist as hydrated minerals, still preserved in Mars highly cratered terrains, as small spots that can be identified, characterized and located from Mars orbit. The data sets one needs to use are primarily provided by to two space instruments, OMEGA (developed, and operated, under our responsibility) and CRISM (to which we are associated), operating respectively on the ESA Mars Express mission, and on the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. They consist in 'hyperspectral imagers', acquiring for each imaged pixel the spectrum of the solar reflected light, in the visible and the near infrared (VNIR): this spectral domain contains diagnostic signatures enabling to identify the constitutive constituents, in particular of the minerals present at Mars surface.
When Bethany came in, we had already discovered Martian clays with the OMEGA instrument, indicative of an early alteration of the Martian crust. Her task was to pursue the spatial coverage, with the higher resolution that CRISM images provide, and to compile all information relevant to the potential formation processes of these hydrated minerals: what clues can they provide as to the early aqueous processes that operated at Mars? This task has been totally completed, and formalized in a review paper published in Nature at the very end of her stay in our team.
The second objective of her activity was to contribute to the definition and characterization of a new generation of instruments, named MicrOmega, designed to characterize samples, at their grain scale, through in situ hyperspectral microscopy in the VNIR spectral range. This activity was conceived as a support to a PhD activity (that of Cedric Pilorget), which had started in our team: it also led to very constructive cooperation, which will extend in the coming years.
Altogether, although limited to a one year postdoctoral activity, since M. Ehlmann was offered a permanent position at CalTech in Pasadena, California, her contribution to our team activity has been very fruitful. We have tied very strong links that do enable to pursue joined activities, and open new avenues of research. Specifically, her position at CalTech being in large part coupled to her role as Participating Scientist in the Mars Science Laboraty (MSL) / Curiosity mission, it offers us a direct access to one of the most promising space exploration mission: in a very near term, Cedric Pilorget will leave to Caltech for his postdoctoral activity, that will be centred on the MSL mission outcomes.
On a longer timescale, it opens to Europe the possibility to contribute to NASA Mars exploration missions, through our MicrOmega instrument to which Bethany contributed. This instrument could play a major role in the selection of Martian samples to be brought back to Earth in the next decade of Mars missions: the Mars Sample Return will constitute a major endeavour, as a joined programme between NASA and Europe.