HR: 0800h
AN: P41A-0896    [Abstracts]
TI: Mars-Lab: First Remote Sensing Study of Mineralogy Exposed at Small Mars Analog Craters, Nevada Test Site
AU: * Kirkland, L
EM: kirkland@lpi.usra.edu
AF: Lunar and Planetary Institute, 3600 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, TX 77058-1113 United States
AU: Herr, K
EM: kenneth.c.herr@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, Mail Station M2/747 2350 East El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245-4691 United States
AU: Adams, P
EM: paul.m.adams@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, Mail Station M2/747 2350 East El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245-4691 United States
AU: Keim, E
EM: eric.r.keim@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, Mail Station M2/747 2350 East El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245-4691 United States
AB: Near-surface explosive tests at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in the Mojave desert created numerous craters that are unique Mars analog sites. Infrared remote sensing is a primary method used to identify minerals on Mars. Small craters expose near-surface composition, weathering processes, and layering. The MarsLab project is the first thermal infrared, remote sensing study of the mineralogy exposed by small terrestrial craters (25-400 m diameter). Small craters are important because they can partially stand-in for drilling, both for more sites than drilling alone can cover, and also when a drilling capability is not otherwise available (e.g., a small rover). On Mars, identification of the minerals on the crater interior wall and in ejecta would uncover currently unknown information on near-surface compositional variations and weathering processes. The Nevada Test Site is a restricted access test facility, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy, in the Mojave desert, approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Mojave desert has long been used for Mars analog studies due to the dry climate. The NTS is particularly valuable because limited public access preserved locations of interest relatively undisturbed. We chose craters in basalt and alluvium substrates. Data sets used include the airborne hyperspectral imager SEBASS (7.5-12.5 microns, 128 bands); Tonka (7.5-12.5 microns, 512 bands), which is the only field spectrometer that raster-scans thermal infrared images like the Mars rover MiniTES; and laboratory spectrometer data sets that cover the full spectral range measured by both the Mars and terrestrial analog instrumentation.
UR: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kirkland
DE: 5410 Composition
DE: 5420 Impact phenomena (includes cratering)
DE: 5464 Remote sensing
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting