Spectroscopic observation of Mars

Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy has proven a powerful tool for exploring the geology of Mars. Most of this data has been obtained from Earth, but the technique is ideally suited to orbital application, as proposed for the U.S. Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter mission. Spectral reflectance in the near-UV and visible is highly diagnostic of ferric-iron mineralogy, and has shown that Fe³⁺ in the ubiquitous bright dust and soil is amorphous or poorly-crystalline. Other iron-oxide minerals, indicative of other modes or episodes of crustal alteration, may be found in spatially localized deposits. Clay minerals (hydroxylated silicates) have diagnostic vibrational absorptions throughout the near-infrared. While some form of bound water and/or OH has been known on Mars for many years, a new result presented here is the identification of structural OH in a dilute or poorly crystalline magnesian clay. Salts such as carbonates, sulfates, and nitrates have not yet been detected in martian soils but have diagnostic spectral features in the 3- to 4-μm region, best suited to Mars-orbital observation. Analysis of reflectance spectra of low-albedo regions is a primary source of evidence for a basaltic or ultramafic crust, with identification of abundant clinopyroxene and possible detection of other mafic minerals. The distinctive near-infrared spectral shape of dark regions indicates that the dark materials commonly consist of relatively unaltered rocks or rock fragments very thinly coated by (or mixed with) bright oxidized material similar to the global dust. Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy is also a sensitive technique for detecting and analyzing water ice, as has been demonstrated on Mars by observations of the north polar cap.