Characterization and Calibration of the CheMin Mineralogical Instrument on Mars Science Laboratory

A principal goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity is to identify and characterize past habitable environments on Mars. Determination of the mineralogical and chemical composition of Martian rocks and soils constrains their formation and alteration pathways, providing information on climate and habitability through time. The CheMin X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument on MSL will return accurate mineralogical identifications and quantitative phase abundances for scooped soil samples and drilled rock powders collected at Gale Crater during Curiosity’s 1-Mars-year nominal mission. The instrument has a Co X-ray source and a cooled charge-coupled device (CCD) detector arranged in transmission geometry with the sample. CheMin’s angular range of 5^° to 50^° 2θ with <0.35^° 2θ resolution is sufficient to identify and quantify virtually all minerals. CheMin’s XRF requirement was descoped for technical and budgetary reasons. However, X-ray energy discrimination is still required to separate Co?Kα from Co?Kβ and Fe?Kα photons. The X-ray energy-dispersive histograms (EDH) returned along with XRD for instrument evaluation should be useful in identifying elements Z>13 that are contained in the sample. The CheMin XRD is equipped with internal chemical and mineralogical standards and 27 reusable sample cells with either Mylar^? or Kapton^? windows to accommodate acidic-to-basic environmental conditions. The CheMin flight model (FM) instrument will be calibrated utilizing analyses of common samples against a demonstration-model (DM) instrument and CheMin-like laboratory instruments. The samples include phyllosilicate and sulfate minerals that are expected at Gale crater on the basis of remote sensing observations.     

The contribution of local gravimetric geoid models to the calibration of satellite altimetry data and an outlook of the latest GOCE GGM performance in Gavdos

The use of geoid heights has been one of the available methodologies utilized for the independent calibration/validation of altimeters on-board satellites. This methodology has been employed for long in the Gavdos dedicated cal/val facility (Crete, Greece), where calibration results for the Jason satellites have been estimated, both for ascending and descending passes. The present work gives a detailed overview of the methodology followed in order to estimate a high-resolution and accuracy gravimetric geoid model for the wider Gavdos area, in support of the on-going calibration work. To estimate the geoid model, the well-known remove-compute-restore method is used while residual geoid heights are estimated through least-squares collocation so that associated errors are determined as well. It is found that the estimated formal geoid errors from LSC along passes 018 and 109 of Jason satellites, used for the bias estimation, range between ±0.8–1.6 cm. The so-derived geoid heights are employed in the determination of the Jason-2 altimeter bias for all available cycles (cycles 1-114, spanning the period from July 2008 to August 2011) together with the RioMed DOT model. From the results acquired the Jason-2 bias has been estimated to be +196.1 ± 3.2 mm for pass 109 and +161.9 ± 5.1 mm for pass 018. Within the same frame, the GOCE/GRACE-based geopotential model GOCO02s has been used to estimate the mean dynamic ocean topography and the steady-state circulation in the area around Gavdos. The so-derived DOT model was used to estimate the Jason-2 bias in an effort to evaluate the performance of satellite-only geoid models and investigate whether their spatial resolution and accuracy provides some improvement w.r.t. traditional local gravimetric geoids. From the results acquired with geoid heights from GOCO02s, the estimated Jason-2 bias deviates significantly from that of the local gravimetric model, which can be attributed to a possible mean offset and the low resolution of GOCE-based GGMs. On the other hand, when the newly estimated GOCE-based DOT was employed with geoid heights from the local gravimetric geoid model, the Jason-2 bias has been estimated to be +185.1 ± 3.2 mm for pass 109 and +130.2 ± 5.1 mm for pass 018.     

Altimetry,bathymetry and geoid variations at the Gavdos permanent Cal/Val facility

The aim of this work has been to examine the relationship of steep bathymetry in the coastal areas around the permanent Cal/Val facility of Gavdos, and their influence on the produced calibration values for the Jason-2 satellite altimeter. The paper describes how changes in seafloor topography (from 200 to 3500 m depth over a distance of 10 km) are reflected on the determined altimeter parameters using different reference surfaces for satellite calibration. Finally, it describes the relation between these parameter trends and the region’s local characteristics.