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Mapping Hydrothermal systems on MARS. Presentation Overview. Hyperspectral Mapping Project Background Signs of early life – Pilbara, WA SWIR Mapping of a Stromatolite horizon Relevance to Mars Latest results with the Mini TES instrument. Who am I?. Adrian Brown
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Presentation Overview • Hyperspectral Mapping Project Background • Signs of early life – Pilbara, WA • SWIR Mapping of a Stromatolite horizon • Relevance to Mars • Latest results with the Mini TES instrument
Who am I? • Adrian Brown • PhD student at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA), Macquarie University • Supervisors are Prof. Malcolm Walter, Director of the ACA, and Dr. Tom Cudahy, CSIRO • Thesis topic – Mapping Ancient Hydrothermal Systems on Earth and Mars
Signs of early life – Pilbara, WA • ACA scientists are investigating the ancient Pilbara region of northern Western Australia • 3.5 billion years old • Contains first signs of life on Earth in the form of stromatolites • Could be a good analogue for Mars
SWIR Mapping of Stromatolite Outcrop • Aims: • Can we remotely detect and identify hydrothermal alteration minerals in a site of astrobiological interest? • Can we put stromatolite occurrences in mineralogical context using SWIR mapping? • Can rovers automatically identify minerals for us? • Is this technique of use on Mars?
SWIR Spectrometry Sun • A spectrometer splits up light into different colours • By graphing colour intensities we can record a characteristic spectral response of rocks Collector Infrared Red Rock Sample Yellow Diffractometer Blue Ultraviolet
Tools of the trade • PIMA • GPS enabled Pocket PC
MER Instruments PANCAM – panoramic camera Mini TES – thermal emission spectrometer Magnetic Arrays APXS – alpha particle x-ray spectrometer Mossbauer – fe spectrometer MI – microscope imager RAT – rock abrasion tool
Silicates CO2 Carbonates