The MicrOmega Investigation Onboard ExoMars

Abstract MicrOmega is a visible near-infrared hyperspectral microscope that is designed to characterize the texture and composition of martian samples presented to the instrument within the ExoMars rover's analytical laboratory drawer. The spectral range (0.5–3.65 μm) and the spectral sampling (20 cm−1 from 0.95 to 3.65 μm) of MicrOmega have been chosen to allow the identification of most constituent minerals, ices/frosts, and organics with astrobiological relevance within each 20 × 20 μm2 pixel over a 5 × 5 mm2 field of view. Such an unprecedented characterization will enable (1) identification of most major and minor phases, including the potential organics; (2) ascription of their mineralogical context, as a critical set of clues with which to decipher their formation process; and (3) location of specific grains or regions of interest in the samples, which will be further analyzed by Raman Laser Spectrometer and/or Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer. Key Words: Spectroscopy—Microscopy—Composition—Organics—...

[1]  J. Bishop,et al.  Alteration processes in volcanic soils and identification of exobiologically important weathering products on Mars using remote sensing. , 1998, Journal of geophysical research.

[2]  John Robert Brucato,et al.  The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) Instrument: Characterization of Organic Material in Martian Sediments , 2017, Astrobiology.

[3]  R. Clark,et al.  Reflectance spectroscopy of organic compounds: 1. Alkanes , 2009 .

[4]  C. Pilorget,et al.  Automated algorithms to identify and locate grains of specific composition for NIR hyperspectral microscopes: Application to the MicrOmega instrument onboard ExoMars , 2014 .

[5]  Gianfranco Visentin,et al.  Habitability on Early Mars and the Search for Biosignatures with the ExoMars Rover , 2017, Astrobiology.

[6]  R L Mancinelli,et al.  Reflectance spectroscopy of ferric sulfate-bearing montmorillonites as Mars soil analog materials. , 1995, Icarus.

[7]  MedinaJesús,et al.  The Raman Laser Spectrometer for the ExoMars Rover Mission to Mars , 2017 .

[8]  R. Clark,et al.  High spectral resolution reflectance spectroscopy of minerals , 1990 .

[9]  C. Pilorget,et al.  The MicrOmega Investigation Onboard Hayabusa2 , 2017 .

[10]  G. Hunt.  SPECTRAL SIGNATURES OF PARTICULATE MINERALS IN THE VISIBLE AND NEAR INFRARED , 1977 .

[11]  M. D. Dyar,et al.  Reflectance and emission spectroscopy study of four groups of phyllosilicates: smectites, kaolinite-serpentines, chlorites and micas , 2008, Clay Minerals.