Bi-directional reflectance and NanoFTIR spectroscopy of synthetic analogues of Mercury: Supporting MERTIS payload of ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission
Abstract
In this study, we investigated the synthetic analogues of Mercury which represent major terranes namely the low-Mg Northern Volcanic Plains (NP-LMg), high-Mg Northern Volcanic Plains (NP-HMg), Intercrater Terrane (ICT), High-Mg Province (HMR), and Smooth Plains (SP) of Mercury. These analogues are 5 x 5 mm2 in area containing major minerals including forsterite, diopside, enstatite, plagioclase, and locally FeSi. Therefore, studying the spectra of bulk sample and the spectra of each mineral phases in these samples will cast a new light on understanding the spectral behaviour of the silicate mineralogy of Mercury. The study consists of three parts in which we obtain; 1. Bulk spectra of the samples (DLR-PSL), 2. High resolution elemental mapping of the samples for all terrains (MfN-SEM), 3. Nano-FTIR spectra of each mineral units (PTB-NanoFTIR).
- Publication:
-
European Planetary Science Congress
- Pub Date:
- September 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018EPSC...12..763V