Optimizing ExoMars 2022 Rover Remote Sensing Multispectral Science: Cross-Rover Comparison using Laboratory and Orbital Data

Abstract

The scientific objectives of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission are to (a) search for signs of past and present life on Mars, and (b) to characterize the geochemical environment as a function of depth in the shallow subsurface (Vago et al., 2015(Vago et al., , 2017. The primary remote sensing instrument on previous Mars landers and rovers has been multispectral imagers operating in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) wavelengths (e.g., Bell et al., 2019;Gunn & Cousins, 2016). In addition to allowing geomorphological interpretations of the surface, the acquisition of in situ spectral information can help determine the composition of the environment close to the lander or rover. Although diagnostic spectral features of planetary surfaces tend to occur at longer IR wavelengths (e.g., Clark, 2019;Mustard & Glotch, 2019;Rossman & Ehlmann, 2019), there are many examples of studies using VNIR multispectral imaging instruments to derive important compositional information about both crystalline and amorphous materials (e.g., Farrand et al., 2016), which not only allow deeper scientific investigations

Optimizing ExoMars Rover Remote Sensing Multispectral Science: Cross‐Rover Comparison Using Laboratory and Orbital Data

“…All CRISM data are available through the NASA PDS Geosciences Node CRISM Archive (https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/mro/crism.htm). Our derived spectral library and CRISM data results are available at the Figshare Archive (Grindrod, 2022).…”