Martian meteorites reflectance and implications for rover missions

Mandon, Lucia; Beck, Pierre; Quantin‐Nataf, Cathy; Dehouck, E.; Pommerol, Antoine; Yoldi, Z.; Cérubini, Romain; Pan, Lu; Martinot, M.; Sautter, V.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114517

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 125 publications

(137 reference statements)

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“…For all the point spectra, we measured the position of the absorption centers by performing the following steps, described in Mandon et al. (2021) with an example shown in Figure S1 in Supporting Information : first, the single‐point spectra were lightly denoised using wavelet denoising (using a soft BayesShrink algorithm), then a spectral continuum was fitted using the upper part of a convex hull of the NIR‐only spectrum. This step was repeated until all band shoulders were satisfactorily included in the continuum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflectance of Jezero Crater Floor: 2. Mineralogical Interpretation

et al. 2023

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The Perseverance rover, Mars 2020 mission, landed on the surface of the Jezero Crater, on February, 18 th 2021. This Martian crater is suspected to have hosted a paleolake as evidenced by the numerous detections of aqueously-altered phases and thus is a promising candidate for the search for past Martian life. The SuperCam instrument, elaborated by a consortium of American and European laboratories, plays a leading role in this investigation thanks to its highly versatile payload providing rapid, synergistic, fine-scale mineralogy, chemistry, and color imaging. After its landing, the first measurements of Martian targets with the infrared spectrometer of SuperCam (IRS) showed new instrumental behaviors that had to be characterized and calibrated to derive unbiased science data. The IRS radiometric response has thus been calibrated using periodic observations of the Aluwhite SuperCam Calibration Target (SCCT). Parasitic effects were understood and mitigated, and the instrumental dark and noise are characterized and modeled. The reflectance calibrated data products, provided periodically on the NASA Planetary Data System, are corrected from the main instrumental features.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflectance of Jezero Crater Floor: 2. Mineralogical Interpretation

et al. 2023

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“…Data considered for IR band-depth statistics used rock targets of the Máaz fm, excluding observations with major shadowing, regolith and dust cover (validated by inspection of RMI images), radio-frequency power drops, and saturated measurements. The band depth was obtained by dividing the spectra (lightly smoothed using wavelet denoising) by their continuums (modeled as upper convex hulls of the spectra), where one minus the continuum-removed spectra values at the band centers is equal to the band depth ( 67 ). For the 2.28-μm band depth, bands centered between 2.26 and 2.3 μm were considered.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compositionally and density stratified igneous terrain in Jezero crater, Mars

et al. 2022

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Before Perseverance, Jezero crater’s floor was variably hypothesized to have a lacustrine, lava, volcanic airfall, or aeolian origin. SuperCam observations in the first 286 Mars days on Mars revealed a volcanic and intrusive terrain with compositional and density stratification. The dominant lithology along the traverse is basaltic, with plagioclase enrichment in stratigraphically higher locations. Stratigraphically lower, layered rocks are richer in normative pyroxene. The lowest observed unit has the highest inferred density and is olivine-rich with coarse (1.5 millimeters) euhedral, relatively unweathered grains, suggesting a cumulate origin. This is the first martian cumulate and shows similarities to martian meteorites, which also express olivine disequilibrium. Alteration materials including carbonates, sulfates, perchlorates, hydrated silicates, and iron oxides are pervasive but low in abundance, suggesting relatively brief lacustrine conditions. Orbital observations link the Jezero floor lithology to the broader Nili-Syrtis region, suggesting that density-driven compositional stratification is a regional characteristic.

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“…As the Perseverance rover continues its operations in Jezero crater, numerous studies use datasets based on simulated payload analyses as a means to investigate geological materials encountered and anticipated along its traverse ( e.g., Mandon et al, 2021 ; Razzell Hollis et al, 2021 ; Anderson et al, 2022 ) as well as to optimize the treatment and interpretation of datasets under mission conditions and constraints ( e.g., Allwood et al, 2020 ; Flannery et al, 2021 ). For astrobiology, the obtainment of datasets such as those reported on the Strelley Pool stromatolites (Allwood et al, 2015 ) and the Buck Reef Chert (this study) will provide guidance for the interpretation of similar biosignatures if encountered on Mars.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Situ Identification of Paleoarchean Biosignatures Using Colocated Perseverance Rover Analyses: Perspectives for In Situ Mars Science and Sample Return

et al. 2022

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The NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is currently exploring Jezero crater, a Noachian–Hesperian locality that once hosted a delta–lake system with high habitability and biosignature preservation potential. Perseverance conducts detailed appraisals of rock targets using a synergistic payload capable of geological characterization from kilometer to micron scales. The highest-resolution textural and chemical information will be provided by correlated WATSON (imaging), SHERLOC (deep-UV Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy), and PIXL (X-ray lithochemistry) analyses, enabling the distributions of organic and mineral phases within rock targets to be comprehensively established. Herein, we analyze Paleoarchean microbial mats from the ∼3.42 Ga Buck Reef Chert (Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa)—considered astrobiological analogues for a putative ancient martian biosphere—following a WATSON–SHERLOC–PIXL protocol identical to that conducted by Perseverance on Mars during all sampling activities. Correlating deep-UV Raman and fluorescence spectroscopic mapping with X-ray elemental mapping, we show that the Perseverance payload has the capability to detect thermally and texturally mature organic materials of biogenic origin and can highlight organic–mineral interrelationships and elemental colocation at fine spatial scales. We also show that the Perseverance protocol obtains very similar results to high-performance laboratory imaging, Raman spectroscopy, and μXRF instruments. This is encouraging for the prospect of detecting microscale organic-bearing textural biosignatures on Mars using the correlative micro-analytical approach enabled by WATSON, SHERLOC, and PIXL; indeed, laminated, organic-bearing samples such as those studied herein are considered plausible analogues of biosignatures from a potential Noachian–Hesperian biosphere. Were similar materials discovered at Jezero crater, they would offer opportunities to reconstruct aspects of the early martian carbon cycle and search for potential fossilized traces of life in ancient paleoenvironments. Such samples should be prioritized for caching and eventual return to Earth.

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Martian meteorites reflectance and implications for rover missions

Cited by 7 publications

References 125 publications

Reflectance of Jezero Crater Floor: 2. Mineralogical Interpretation

Reflectance of Jezero Crater Floor: 2. Mineralogical Interpretation

Compositionally and density stratified igneous terrain in Jezero crater, Mars

In Situ Identification of Paleoarchean Biosignatures Using Colocated Perseverance Rover Analyses: Perspectives for In Situ Mars Science and Sample Return

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