Ma_MISS spectrometr on Rosalind Franklin Rover for the exploration of the Martian suburface
- Paper number
IAC-24,A3,3A,3,x84842
- Author
Dr. Maria Cristina De Sanctis, INAF - Istituto Nazionale di AstroFisica, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Francesca Altieri, INAF, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Simone De Angelis, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Marco Ferrari, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Alessandro Frigeri, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Sergio Fonte, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Jeremy Brossier, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Marco Giardino, ASI - Italian Space Agency, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Eleonora Ammannito, ASI - Italian Space Agency, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Andrea Apuzzo, Roma Tre University, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Michelangelo Formisano, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Lorenzo Rossi, INAF-IAPS, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Francesco Antonacci, Leonardo S.p.A, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Francesco Villa, Leonardo S.p.A, Italy
- Year
2024
- Abstract
Mars is a primary destination to search for signs of life in our Solar System and probing the subsurface is a key element in this quest. ExoMars mission was designed to search life into the Martian subsurface, accessing to sequences of buried layers that may host biomarkers. Accessing the unaltered subsurface by using a Drill, collecting samples down to 2 m, has been the innovative approach of the ExoMars mission. The rover includes has a complex payload to conduct detailed investigations of composition, search for or-ganics, and recognize indicators of past or extant life[1]. An essential part of the payload is Ma\_MISS (Mars Multispectral Imager for Subsurface Studies) experiment hosted by the drill system[2,3]. Ma\_MISS is a miniaturized spectrometer (VNIR) with an optical head inside the drill tip, capable of observing the borehole walls from where the Martian samples are collected. Ma\_MISS is a modular instrument and it consists of two main parts: i) the spectrometer and the proxim-ity electronics located outside of the drilling tool and ii) the Optical Head and fibers located inside the drill itself [2]. The Drill consists of a main rod, which hosts the drill tip, plus three additional rods (each 50 cm long), which allow it to reach a maximum depth of 2 m. The drill tip has the Ma\_MISS Optical Head to observe the borehole wall. Ma\_MISS is equipped with a light source of 5W to illuminate the borehole. All the rods are equipped with optical fibers, able to transmit light and signal. The illumination spot on the target is about 1 mm in diameter at a focal distance of about 0.6 mm. The reflected light is collected through a 120 μm spot. The spectrometer observes a single point target on the borehole wall and using the drill movements, can build up spectral images of the tar-get. By combining column and ring observations, Ma\_MISS reconstructs of a fairly complete image of the borehole wall. Here we will present the scientific goals and characteristics of the instrument to support the Martian exploration, in the context of the rover mission. Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the ASI Grant ASI-INAF n. 2023–3–HH.0. References: [1] Vago et al. (2017) Astrobiology 17, 471–510. [2] De Sanctis et al. (2017) Astrobiology 17(6–7), 612–620. [3] De Sanctis et al. (2022) PSJ 3, 142.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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