Planetary Terrestrial Analogues Library Project: 3. Characterization of Samples with MicrOmega

TL;DR

The PTAL project develops a comprehensive mineralogical database of Earth analogues for Mars, utilizing MicrOmega hyperspectral imaging to enhance mineral and organic detection capabilities relevant for future Mars exploration.

Contribution

This study demonstrates the application of MicrOmega hyperspectral microscopy to characterize terrestrial analog samples, revealing mineral heterogeneities and organic molecules not detectable by other techniques.

Findings

MicrOmega detects mineral components and organics missed by other methods.

Spectral imaging reveals heterogeneity in mineral distributions.

Data supports future Mars surface analysis with MicrOmega.

Abstract

The PTAL (Planetary Terrestrial Analogues Library) project aims at building and exploiting a database involving several analytical techniques, to help characterizing the mineralogical evolution of terrestrial bodies, starting with Mars. Around 100 natural Earth rock samples have been collected from selected locations to gather a variety of analogues for Martian geology, from volcanic to sedimentary origin with different levels of alteration. All samples are to be characterized within the PTAL project with different mineralogical and elemental analysis techniques, including techniques brought on actual and future instruments at the surface of Mars (Near InfraRed spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy). This paper presents the NIR measurements and interpretations acquired with the ExoMars MicrOmega spare instrument. MicrOmega is a NIR hyperspectral microscope, mounted in the analytical laboratory of the ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin. All PTAL samples have been observed at least once with MicrOmega using a dedicated setup. For all PTAL samples data description and interpretation are presented. For some chosen examples, RGB images and spectra are presented a well. A comparison with characterizations by NIR and Raman spectrometry is discussed for some of the samples. In particular, the spectral imaging capacity of MicrOmega allows detections of mineral components and potential organic molecules that were not possible with other one-spot techniques. Additionally, it enables to estimate heterogeneities in the spatial distribution of various mineral species. The MicrOmega/PTAL data shall support the future observations and analyses performed by MicrOmega/Rosalind Franklin instrument.