PLANETARY REMOTE SENSING WITH IMAGING SPECTROMETERS FOR THE EARTH, MOON AND MARS

Imaging Spectrometers are currently flying/orbiting around the Earth, Mars, as well as a number of other planets and soon the Moon. Imaging spectrometers acquire data with enough spectral range, resolution and sampling at every pixel in a raster image so that individual absorption features can be identified and spatially mapped. Further, with such sampling, the information in the spectral data are inherently self-verifying in many cases using data in the remote scene. This verification allows refinement and monitoring of spectral wavelength calibration (e.g., using known absorptions) as well as surface reflectance (e.g., spikes and offsets are "unphysical"). Imaging spectrometers are being used to map many minerals, amorphous materials, man-made materials (on the Earth), and sample solids, liquids and gases. State-of-the-art systems such as AVIRIS have been used in many applications, including mineral and ecosystems mapping, environmental assessment, and disaster response. Systems now orbiting Mars include OMEGA (Observatoire pour la Miniralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activiti) and the Mars CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) instruments which are currently obtaining new data and mapping minerals on the martian surface that a few years ago were not even predicted to be on the surface. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is scheduled to be launched in 2008 on India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. M3, with a novel new design minimize spectral distortion, will map the basaltic mineralogy on the moon and search for volatiles, including H2O and OH-bearing minerals. This talk will review some of the applications that have already been accomplished, some of the topics that might be addressed in the near future, and discuss some of the difficulties in advancing the science of mapping chemistry.