High-temperature laboratory measurements in support of a statistical analysis of spectral data from MESSENGER

Details High-temperature laboratory measurements in support of a statistical analysis of spectral data from MESSENGER High-temperature laboratory measurements in support of a statistical analysis of spectral data from MESSENGER

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p41a1587h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P41A-1587

Mathematics

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[5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition, [5494] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Instruments And Techniques, [6235] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mercury

Scientific paper

We assess compositional heterogeneity on the surface of Mercury with data from MESSENGER'S Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS). The data were obtained during the spacecraft's early orbital phase and cover nearly a pole-to-pole portion of the planet from about 0° to -45°E longitude. Under the hypothesis that surface compositional information can be efficiently derived from spectral reflectance measurements with the use of statistical techniques, we have employed principal component and clustering analyses to identify and characterize spectral units from observations by MASCS. This method proved successful with the interpretation of MASCS data obtained during MESSENGER's Mercury flybys despite the absence of a photometric correction. The statistical technique allows the extraction of underlying relationships among compositional units. We were able to cluster surface observations into distinct classes that correspond well to geomorphological units identified from MESSENGER images, such as plains and heavily cratered terrain. We also identified areas where the geometry of spectral observations matches that of the biconical reflectance attachment used at the DLR Planetary Emissivity Laboratory (PEL). For comparison with spectra from these areas we obtained spectra for a wide range of candidate minerals. The minerals were thermally processed in the Mercury simulation chamber at PEL, by heating them to Mercury peak temperatures under vacuum conditions. This procedure is a first step in the development at PEL of a capability to measure the near-infrared spectra directly at Mercury temperatures. Although such thermal processing cannot capture all spectral changes induced by the high temperatures, it allows an assessment of some of the effects of exposure to Mercury's harsh environment, providing a more realistic comparison than with standard unheated terrestrial minerals. We are therefore able to make inferences on possible mineralogical constituents of Mercury's surface materials.

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