Athena Microscopic Imager investigation

Abstract

[1] The Athena science payload on the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) includes the Microscopic Imager (MI). The MI is a fixed-focus camera mounted on the end of an extendable instrument arm, the Instrument Deployment Device (IDD). The MI was designed to acquire images at a spatial resolution of 30 microns/pixel over a broad spectral range (400-700 nm). The MI uses the same electronics design as the other MER cameras but has optics that yield a field of view of 31 Â 31 mm across a 1024 Â 1024 pixel CCD image. The MI acquires images using only solar or skylight illumination of the target surface. A contact sensor is used to place the MI slightly closer to the target surface than its best focus distance (about 66 mm), allowing concave surfaces to be imaged in good focus. Coarse focusing ($2 mm precision) is achieved by moving the IDD away from a rock target after the contact sensor has been activated. The MI optics are protected from the Martian environment by a retractable dust cover. The dust cover includes a Kapton window that is tinted orange to restrict the spectral bandpass to 500-700 nm, allowing color information to be obtained by taking images with the dust cover open and closed. MI data will be used to place other MER instrument data in context and to aid in petrologic and geologic interpretations of rocks and soils on Mars.

Microscopic emission and reflectance thermal infrared spectroscopy: instrumentation for quantitative in situ mineralogy of complex planetary surfaces

“…However, this work often lacks direct petrographic context for samples in question, which can significantly aid in determining the geologic mode of origin and type of alteration the samples have undergone. Instead, inferences about the nature of materials must be made from other instruments and techniques including such optical microscopy [3], high-resolution morphology, and grain size information determined from thermal inertia data [50].…”

“…These landed spacecraft missions have characterized martian surface in detail using a variety of in situ and landed remote sensing techniques. For example onboard, the MERs, a broad suite of instruments including the alphaparticle x-ray spectrometer (APXS, [1]), Mössbauer (MB, [2]), Microscopic Imager (MI, [3]), the minithermal emission spectrometer (mini-TES, [4]), and the Panoramic Camera (PanCam, [5]) have characterized in detail both Meridiani Planum and a section of the floor of the Gusev Crater. The combination of in situ (e.g., MI, APXS, MB) and remote sensing (e.g., PanCam, mini-TES) instruments has proved to be especially successful in both identifying potential targets at a distance and characterizing those targets in detail [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Water on Mars: Evidence from MER Mission Results

“…This paper reviews some of the findings from the MER mission related to the NASA science strategy of investigating past and present water on Mars. Details of the scientific results of the MER mission can be found in numerous reports on the mission [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

A Wind-powered Rover for a Low-Cost Venus Mission

“…5 Imaging investigations are also important. A Microscopic Imager (MI) 34 will be used to take close-up, highresolution images of rocks and surface soil. As it is placed on the rovers arm, used in conjunction with the RAT, the MI will have the capability to take images of subsurface samples as well.…”