Publications
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Bedrock geochemistry and alteration history of the clay-bearing Glen Torridon region of Gale crater, Mars
Glen Torridon is a topographic trough located on the slope of Aeolis Mons, Gale crater, Mars. It corresponds to what was previously referred to as the “clay-bearing unit”, due to the relatively strong spectral signatures of clay minerals (mainly ferric smectites) detected from orbit. Starting in January 2019, the Curiosity rover explored Glen Torridon for more than 700 sols (Martian days). The obj
Authors
Erwin Dehouck, Agnes Cousin, Nicolas Mangold, Jens Frydenvang, Olivier Gasnault, Olivier Forni, William Rapin, Patrick J. Gasda, Gwenael Caravaca, Gael David, Candice C. Bedford, Jeremie Lasue, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Kristin Rammelkamp, Marine Desjardins, Stephane Le Mouelic, Michael T. Thorpe, Valerie K. Fox, Kristen A. Bennett, Alexander Bryk, Nina L. Lanza, Sylvestre Maurice, Roger C. Wiens
The Lunar Geophysical Network landing site science rationale
The Lunar Geophysical Network (LGN) mission is proposed to land on the Moon in 2030 and deploy packages at four locations to enable geophysical measurements for 6–10 yr. Returning to the lunar surface with a long-lived geophysical network is a key next step to advance lunar and planetary science. LGN will greatly expand our primarily Apollo-based knowledge of the deep lunar interior by identifying
Authors
Heidi Haviland, Renee C. Weber, Clive Neal, Philippe Lognonné, Raphael Garcia, Nicholas Schmerr, Seiichi Nagihara, Robert Grimm, Douglas Currie, Simone Dell'Agnello, Thomas R. Watters, Mark Panning, Catherine L. Johnson, Ryuhei Yamada, Martin Knapmeyer, Lillian R. Ostrach, Taichi Kawamura, Noah Petro, Paul Bremner
Silicate volcanism on Europa’s seafloor and implications for habitability
Habitable ocean environments on Europa require an influx of reactants to maintain chemical disequilibrium. One possible source of reactants is seafloor volcanism. Modeling has shown that dissipation of tidal energy in Europa's asthenosphere can generate melt, but melt formation cannot be equated with volcanism. Melt must also be transported through Europa's cold lithosphere to erupt at the seafloo
Authors
Michael T. Bland, Catherine Elder
Post-landing major element quantification using SuperCam laser induced breakdown spectroscopy
The SuperCam instrument on the Perseverance Mars 2020 rover uses a pulsed 1064 nm laser to ablate targets at a distance and conduct laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) by analyzing the light from the resulting plasma. SuperCam LIBS spectra are preprocessed to remove ambient light, noise, and the continuum signal present in LIBS observations. Prior to quantification, spectra are masked to r
Authors
Ryan Anderson, Olivier Forni, Agnes Cousin, Roger C. Wiens, Samuel M. Clegg, Jens Frydenvang, Travis S. J. Gabriel, Ann M. Ollila, Susanne Schröder, Olivier Beyssac, Erin Gibbons, David Vogt, Elise Clave, Jose-Antonio Manrique, Carey Legett, Paolo Pilleri, Raymond Newell, Joseph Sarrao, Sylvestre Maurice, Gorka Arana, Karim Benzerara, Pernelle Bernardi, Sylvain Bernard, Bruno Bousquet, Adrian J. Brown, Cesar Alvarez-Llamas, Baptiste Chide, Edward A. Cloutis, Jade Comellas, Stephanie Connell, Erwin Dehouck, Dorothea Delapp, Ari Essunfeld, Cecile Fabre, Thierry Fouchet, Cristina Garcia, Laura Garcia-Gomez, Patrick J. Gasda, Olivier Gasnault, Elisabeth Hausrath, Nina L. Lanza, Javier Laserna, Jeremie Lasue, Guillermo Lopez, Juan Manuel Madariaga, Lucia Mandon, Nicolas Mangold, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Marion Nachon, Anthony Nelson, Horton E. Newsom, Adriana Reyes-Newell, Scott Robinson, Fernando Rull, Shiv Sharma, Justin I Simon, Pablo Sobron, Imanol Torre Fernandez, Arya Udry, Dawn Venhaus, Scott McLennan, Richard V. Morris, Bethany L. Ehlmann
hical—The HiRISE radiometric calibration software developed within the ISIS3 planetary image processing suite
IntroductionThis report summarizes the software and algorithms that are used to calibrate images returned by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. The instrument design and data processing methods are summarized below, followed by a description of relevant calibration data and details of the calibration procedure. I
Authors
Kris J. Becker, Moses P. Milazzo, W. Alan Delamere, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Eric M. Eliason, Patrick S. Russell, Laszlo P. Keszthelyi, Alfred S. McEwen
Diagenesis of Vera Rubin ridge, Gale crater, Mars from Mastcam multispectral images
Images from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission of lacustrine sedimentary rocks of Vera Rubin ridge on “Mt. Sharp” in Gale crater, Mars, have shown stark color variations from red to purple to gray. These color differences crosscut stratigraphy and are likely due to diagenetic alteration of the sediments after deposition. However, the chemistry and timing of these fluid interactions is uncle
Authors
Briony H. N. Horgan, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Abigail A. Fraeman, Melissa Rice, Christina Seeger, James F. Bell, Kristen A. Bennett, Edward A. Cloutis, Lauren A. Edgar, Jens Frydenvang, John P. Grotzinger, Jonas L'Haridon, Samantha Jacob, Nicolas Mangold, Elizabeth B. Rampe, Frances Rivera-Hernandez, Vivian Z. Sun, Lucy Thompson, Danika F. Wellington
Acquisition of Moon measurements by Earth orbiting sensors for lunar calibration
The reflected light from the Moon can be utilized as a reference for radiometric calibration by employing a model to generate reference values corresponding to the Moon observations made by instruments. Using a calibration target that is outside the atmosphere provides a distinct advantage for space-based instruments; however, the lunar irradiance sensed by satellite instruments naturally changes
Authors
Thomas C. Stone
Temperatures of the Lacus Mortis region of the Moon
Over 11 years of data acquired by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment instrument aboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been compiled into a comprehensive data set of surface temperatures in the Lacus Mortis region which includes the landing ellipse of the Astrobotic Mission One lander mission. These data provide diurnal brightness temperatures at 128 pixels per degree (ppd) spatial resoluti
Authors
J.-P. Williams, Benjamin T Greenhagen, Kristen A. Bennett, David Paige, Nandita Kumari, Caitlin Ahrens, Lior Rubanenko, Tyler Powell, Parvathy Prem, David T. Blewett, Patrick Russell, Paul O. Hayne, Mark Sullivan
Planetary dunes tell of otherworldly winds
Dune fields are common on beaches and in deserts—think of the imposing sand hills and sinuous ripples of the Sahara in Africa or the Karakum in Central Asia, for example—as well as underwater on the beds of rivers, lakes, and oceans. The varied shapes, sizes, and orientations of both modern dunes and those preserved in the geologic record tell of the conditions under which they formed, particularl
Authors
Timothy N. Titus, S. Diniega, L.K. Fenton, Lynn D.V. Neakrase, James R. Zimbelman
How well do we know Europa’s topography? An evaluation of the variability in digital terrain models of Europa.
Jupiter’s moon Europa harbors one of the most likely environments for extant extraterrestrial life. Determining whether Europa is truly habitable requires understanding the structure and thickness of its ice shell, including the existence of perched water or brines. Stereo-derived topography from images acquired by NASA Galileo’s Solid State Imager (SSI) of Europa are often used as a constraint on
Authors
Michael T. Bland, Randolph L. Kirk, Donna M. Galuszka, David Mayer, R. A. Beyer, Robin L. Fergason
Clustering supported classification of ChemCam data from Gale crater, Mars
The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on board the MSL rover Curiosity has collected a very large and unique dataset of in-situ spectra and images of Mars since landing in August 2012. More than 800,000 single shot LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy) spectra measured on more than 2,500 individual targets were returned so far by ChemCam. Such a dataset is ideally suited for the appl
Authors
K. Rammelkamp, Olivier Gasnault, Olivier Forni, Candice C. Bedford, Erwin Dehouck, Agnès Cousin, Jeremie Lasue, Gaël David, Travis S. J. Gabriel, Sylvestre Maurice, Roger C. Wiens
Appendix E: Mars nomenclature
This appendix provides an overview of the history and current standards for Mars geographic nomenclature. The article describes the International Astronomical Union's approval process for planetary nomenclature, and discusses the role of USGS Astrogeology in managing the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature website and background database and
Authors
Tenielle A. Gaither