Extraterrestrial Mössbauer spectroscopy: more than 3 years of Mars exploration and developments for future missions

Abstract

After almost 4 years of operating on the surface of Mars, Mössbauer spectroscopy has become a mature technique for robotic planetary exploration. The combination of quantitative information about the distribution of Fe among its oxidation and coordination states, identification of Fe-bearing phases, and relative distribution of Fe among those phases provides valuable contributions to the search for past water activity, the assessment of past environmental conditions, and the This work was originally presented as an invited talk during the International Conference on the 150 C. Schröder et al.suitability for life of the two NASA Mars Exploration Rover landing sites. Experience from the Mars Exploration Rover Mission highlights needs for improvement of the instruments for future missions such as the Russian Phobos-Grunt and the European ExoMars rover.

Applications of Mössbauer Spectroscopy in Meteoritical and Planetary Science, Part II: Differentiated Meteorites, Moon, and Mars

“…These spectra demonstrated the presence of goethite in the magnetic and paramagnetic states, thus testifying to the presence of water on Mars in the past. Various Mössbauer measurements of soils and rocks by two rovers at the Gusev Crater and Miridiani Planum were considered, e.g., in [140][141][142][143][144]. The authors determined the iron-bearing minerals in these soils and rocks and obtained the modal phase analyses of the studied materials.…”