In‐Flight Calibration of Near‐Infrared Reflectance Spectra Measured by the Zhurong Mars Rover

Abstract

Near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral remote sensing is a useful tool to characterize the surface composition of Mars. The Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activite (OMEGA) instrument (Bibring et al., 2004) onboard the Mars Express and the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars instrument (Murchie et al., 2007) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have collected hyperspectral data at spatial resolutions from meters to kilometers. Diverse hydrated minerals including clays, sulfates, carbonates, hydrated silica and chlorates etc., have been identified on Mars (Carter et al., 2013;Ehlmann & Edwards, 2014). However, the low spatial resolutions of these orbital hyperspectral data limit a more detailed analysis of surface compositions. Even less is known about the compositions on the northern lowland on Mars due to the dust covering, silica-enriched coating, and weathered glass on surfaces (Carter et al., 2010;Horgan & Bell, 2012;Pan et al., 2017). In addition, the severe contaminations of Martian atmosphere on the surface spectra mask the primary absorption features of hydrated minerals, that is, the water or hydroxyl-related absorptions at ∼1.4 and 1.9 μm (Itoh & Parente, 2021;McGuire et al., 2009). In situ detection of landers/rovers on Mars will provide a distinctive view to study surface mineral compositions on Mars with finer scale and less effects of atmosphere.