Related papers: Martian meteorites reflectance and implications fo…

The search for evidence of past life on Mars presents a tremendous challenge that requires the usage of very advanced robotic technologies to overcome it. Current digital microscopic imagers and spectrometers used for astrobiological…

We have analyzed 14 impact melt glass samples, covering the compositional range from highly felsic to mafic/basaltic, as part of our effort to provide mid-infrared spectra (7-14 micron) for MERTIS (Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared…

Planetary rovers can use onboard data analysis to adapt their measurement plan on the fly, improving the science value of data collected between commands from Earth. This paper describes the implementation of an adaptive sampling algorithm…

We report new laboratory studies of the radiation-induced destruction of glycine-containing ices for a range of temperatures and compositions that allow extrapolation to Martian conditions. In-situ infrared spectroscopy was used to study…

In the search for life in the cosmos, biopigments on exoplanet surfaces are a critical target. Such pigments have been detected in Earth's spectrum (by the Galileo spacecraft and in Earthshine) via the "vegetation" or "photosynthesis red…

We report on the design, operation, and data analysis methods employed on the VNIR imaging spectrometer instrument that was part of the Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE). The imaging spectrometer is a…

The ever-changing transparency of the Martian atmosphere hinders the determination of absolute surface colour from spacecraft images. While individual high-resolution images from low orbit reveal numerous colour details of the geology, the…

We present Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, monitoring observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Markarian 3 spanning a 200 day period during which time the source flux varied by a factor $\sim 2$ in the 4-20 keV bandpass. In broad agreement with…

The detection of biologically important, organic molecules on Mars is an important goal that may soon be reached. However, the current small number of organic detections at the Martian surface may be due to the harsh UV and radiation…

LaRa (Lander Radioscience) is an experiment on the ExoMars 2020 mission that uses the Doppler shift on the radio link due to the motion of the ExoMars platform tied to the surface of Mars with respect to the Earth ground stations (e.g. the…

The detection of extrasolar planets' atmospheres requires very demanding observations. For planets that can not be spatially separated from their host stars, i.e. the vast majority of planets, the transiting planets are the only ones…

An important and perhaps dominant source of dust in the martian atmosphere, dust devils play a key role in Mars' climate. Datasets from previous landed missions have revealed dust devil activity, constrained their structures, and elucidated…

Meteorites contain minerals from Solar System asteroids with different properties (like size, presence of water, core formation). We provide new mid-IR transmission spectra of powdered meteorites to obtain templates of how mid-IR spectra of…

High-resolution spectroscopic searches for the starlight reflected from close-in extra-solar giant planets have the capability of determining the optical albedo spectra and scattering properties of these objects. When combined with radial…

This study uses the Pearson's chi-square test to analyze the VNIR reflectance spectra of seven asteroids and look for spectral matches among approximately 11,000 laboratory spectra of meteoritic, terrestrial, synthetic, Apollo, and Luna…

Recently, Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) ultraviolet and visible spectrometer instrument on board the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) simultaneously measured the limb emission intensities for both…

Dust is the main driver of Mars' atmospheric variability. The determination of Martian dust aerosol properties is of high relevance for radiative modelling and calculating its weather forcing. In particular, the light scattering behaviour…

We report the measurement of a large optical reflection matrix (RM) of a highly disordered medium. Incident optical fields onto a turbid sample are controlled by a spatial light modulator, and the corresponding fields reflected from the…

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft has been in orbit around Mars since March 2006. The Context Camera (CTX) on MRO has returned over 100,000 images of the planet at approximately 5-6 meters per pixel, providing nearly global…

Reflection spectroscopy holds great promise for characterizing the atmospheres and surfaces of potentially habitable terrestrial exoplanets. The surface of the modern Earth exhibits a sharp albedo change near 750 nm caused by vegetation -…