SHERLOC Raman Mineral Class Detections of the Mars 2020 Crater Floor Campaign
Number of Authors: 372023 (English)In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets, ISSN 2169-9097, E-ISSN 2169-9100, Vol. 128, no 3, article id e2022JE007455Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The goals of NASA's Mars 2020 mission include searching for evidence of ancient life on Mars, studying the geology of Jezero crater, understanding Mars' current and past climate, and preparing for human exploration of Mars. During the mission's first science campaign, the Perseverance rover's SHERLOC deep UV Raman and fluorescence instrument collected microscale, two-dimensional Raman and fluorescence images on 10 natural (unabraded) and abraded targets on two different Jezero crater floor units: Séítah and Máaz. We report SHERLOC Raman measurements collected during the Crater Floor Campaign and discuss their implications regarding the origin and history of Séítah and Máaz. The data support the conclusion that Séítah and Máaz are mineralogically distinct igneous units with complex aqueous alteration histories and suggest that the Jezero crater floor once hosted an environment capable of supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of that life, if it existed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley and Sons Inc , 2023. Vol. 128, no 3, article id e2022JE007455
Keywords [en]
astrobiology, Jezero crater, Mars 2020, Martian mineralogy, Raman, SHERLOC, astronomy, crater, geomicrobiology, Mars, mineral deposit, mineralogy, Raman spectroscopy
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-64326DOI: 10.1029/2022JE007455Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85151083059OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-64326DiVA, id: diva2:1754461
Note
Funding details: 80NSSC18K1255; Funding details: National Science Foundation, NSF, 2035701; Funding details: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, 80NSSC20K0237; Funding details: Johnson Space Center, JSC; Funding details: American Sheep Industry Association, ASI, 2017‐48‐H‐0; Funding details: Canadian Space Agency, CSA, EXPCOI4; Funding details: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NSERC, RGPIN‐2021‐02995; Funding details: Swedish National Space Agency, SNSA, 137/19, 2021‐00092; Funding details: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI; Funding text 1: We thank the entire Perseverance rover team. The work described in this paper was partially carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Funding: A.C. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (award number 2035701). Funding for R.S.J was provided as an Advanced Curation project run by the NASA Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office, Johnson Space Center. A.D.C. and A.C. were supported by the Mars 2020 Returned Sample Science Participating Scientist Program (NASA award number 80NSSC20K0237). E.A.C. thanks the Canadian Space Agency (Grant number EXPCOI4) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Grant RGPIN‐2021‐02995). E.L.S. was supported by NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF) (Grant 80NSSC18K1255) and the SHERLOC Co‐I funds of B.L.E. J.R.H. was supported by a NASA Postdoctoral Program fellowship. J.R.H., A.S., L.W.B., R.B., P.G.C., M.F., F.M.M., and A.S.B. were supported by the 107415 Mars 2020 Phase‐E. A.J.W. was supported by the NASA M2020 Participating Scientist Program. T.F. was supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Grant agreement ASI/INAF n. 2017‐48‐H‐0. S.S. acknowledges funding from the Swedish National Space Agency (contracts 137/19 and 2021‐00092). This work was supported in part by the ISFM Mission Enabling Work Package and the Johnson Space Center.
2023-05-032023-05-032023-06-07Bibliographically approved