Spectral Variability of Rocks and Soils on the Jezero Crater Floor: A Summary of Multispectral Observations From Perseverance's Mastcam-Z Instrument
Creators
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1.
Western Washington University
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2.
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- 3. Million Concepts, Louisville, KY, USA
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4.
Purdue University West Lafayette
- 5. Apogee Engineering, LLC, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
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6.
University of Copenhagen
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7.
Cornell University
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8.
Arizona State University
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9.
University of Winnipeg
- 10. Plancius Research, Severna Park, MD, USA
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11.
California Institute of Technology
Abstract
NASA's Mars‐2020 Perseverance rover spent its first year in Jezero crater studying the mafic lava flows of the Máaz formation and the ultramafic cumulates of the Séítah formation, both of which have undergone minor alteration and are variably covered by coatings, dust, and/or soil deposits. Documenting the rock and soil characteristics across the crater floor is critical for establishing the geologic context of Perseverance's cached samples—which will eventually be returned to Earth—and for interpreting the deposition and modification of the Máaz and Séítah formations. Mastcam‐Z, a pair of multispectral, stereoscopic zoom‐lens cameras, provides broadband red/green/blue and narrowband visible to near‐infrared images (VNIR, 440–1,020 nm). From multispectral observations from sols 0 to 380, we compiled a database of ∼2,400 representative Mastcam‐Z spectra. We analyzed principal components, spectral parameters, and laboratory spectra of pure minerals and natural rock surfaces to interpret the spectral diversity of rocks and soils. We define eight spectral classes of rocks: Dusty, Hematite‐like, Coated, Low‐Ca Pyroxene‐like, Olivine‐like, Weathered Olivine‐like, Fe‐rich Pyroxene‐like, and Dark Oxide‐like. The variability of soil spectra in the Jezero crater floor is controlled primarily by the amount of dust and indicates a largely consistent soil mineralogy across the traverse, with the exception of the area disturbed by the landing event. In comparison to rock spectra from the Curiosity rover's Mastcam instrument in Gale crater, rocks on the Jezero crater floor are generally less spectrally diverse, but the Olivine‐like rocks within the Séítah formation represent a new spectral rock class in Mars surface exploration.
Copyright and License
© 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Acknowledgement
We thank the Perseverance Science and Engineering Teams for their enormous efforts and tireless commitments to the mission. We give special thanks to Malin Space Science Systems and their staff of Mastcam-Z Payload Uplink Leads, Arizona State University and their staff of Mastcam-Z Payload Downlink Leads, and the Mastcam-Z science team members who perform operations roles in support of downlink, uplink, campaign implementation, and long-term planning for the mission. We specifically thank the Mastcam-Z science Payload Downlink Leads for their contributions to the Mastcam-Z multispectral database. M. Merusi was supported by the E.U.'s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant agreement No 801199. Work and travel by K.B. Kinch and travel by M. Merusi were supported by the Carlsberg Foundation Grant CF19-0023. We also thank P. Grindrod and R. Anderson for thoughtful reviews that improved the manuscript.
Funding
M. Merusi was supported by the E.U.'s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant agreement No 801199. Work and travel by K.B. Kinch and travel by M. Merusi were supported by the Carlsberg Foundation Grant CF19-0023.
Data Availability
Mastcam-Z multispectral observations are freely available through the Planetary Data System Cartography and Imaging Sciences node: https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/volumes/msl.html. The Mastcam-Z multispectral database, metadata, DCS images, enhanced color images, and ROI context images are available in Rice, Johnson, et al. (2022): https://doi.org/10.25710/bhyk-kc32. Software packages used for Mastcam-Z image processing, spectral extraction, and statistical analyses are part of open suite developed by Million Concepts, LLC (St. Clair et al., 2022): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6642557 (links to specific GitHub repositories are included in the README file).
Files
JGR Planets - 2023 - Rice - Spectral Variability of Rocks and Soils on the Jezero Crater Floor A Summary of Multispectral.pdf
Additional details
Related works
- Is supplemented by
- Dataset: https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/volumes/msl.html (URL)
- Dataset: 10.25710/bhyk-kc32 (DOI)
- Dataset: 10.5281/zenodo.6642557 (DOI)
Funding
- Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
- 801199
- Carlsberg Foundation
- CF19‐0023
Dates
- Available
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2023-10-06Issue Online
- Accepted
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2023-02-16Manuscript Accepted
Caltech Custom Metadata
- Publication Status
- Published