Synthesis of Orbital and Rover-based Infrared Remote Sensing in the Exploration of Mars: Lessons Learned from Terrestrial Field Experiments

Details Synthesis of Orbital and Rover-based Infrared Remote Sensing in the Exploration of Mars: Lessons Learned from Terrestrial Field Experiments Synthesis of Orbital and Rover-based Infrared Remote Sensing in the Exploration of Mars: Lessons Learned from Terrestrial Field Experiments

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p62b..09m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P62B-09

Mathematics

Logic

3672 Planetary Mineralogy And Petrology (5410), 5410 Composition, 5464 Remote Sensing, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

NASA's strategy for the exploration of Mars calls for extensive orbital reconnaissance to precede detailed exploration by rovers at selected sites on the surface. Infrared mapping of surface composition by the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) experiments is currently setting the stage for the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, which will land in 2004. Each of these rovers will carry a miniature thermal emission spectrometer for remote determination of the composition of rocks and soils at the landing sites. The combination of overhead IR remote sensing at modest spatial resolutions (3km spectroscopy and 100m imaging) with close-up rover-based spectroscopy in the same wavelength region will provide unique scientific and operational advantages, as well as a few challenges. Overhead remote sensing can be used to set the overall regional geologic context for a rover landing site, which in turn can lead to more strategic, hypothesis-driven exploration by the rovers. At "grab bag" landing sites, where multiple rock types may have been transported from distant sources, rover spectra of suspected exotic rocks may be compared to the spectra of units mapped from above to determine provenance. The relatively short atmospheric pathlength inherent to most rover spectral observations will facilitate their use as calibrators of atmospheric removal techniques used on orbital data. Rover-based spectra of rocks on the martian surface may not be immediately comparable to orbit-based or lab spectra, however. In particular, the somewhat unusual horizontal-viewing geometry inherent to rover observations is prone to target adjacency effects that can change the spectral contrast and shape of a rock's thermal infrared spectrum relative to how it would look from above or in a lab spectrometer. Examples of the synergies between orbital remote sensing and rover spectra, as well as illustrations of some of the challenges involved in making comparisons, will be drawn from work at blind rover field tests and field work the author has been involved in over the past several years.

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