The SuperCam Instrument Suite on the NASA Mars 2020 Rover: Body Unit and Combined System Tests.

The SuperCam instrument suite provides the Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, with a number of versatile remote-sensing techniques that can be used at long distance as well as within the robotic-arm workspace. These include laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), remote time-resolved Raman and luminescence spectroscopies, and visible and infrared (VISIR; separately referred to as VIS and IR) reflectance spectroscopy. A remote micro-imager (RMI) provides high-resolution color context imaging, and a microphone can be used as a stand-alone tool for environmental studies or to determine physical properties of rocks and soils from shock waves of laser-produced plasmas.

Microbiology and Nitrogen Cycle in the Benthic Sediments of a Glacial Oligotrophic Deep Andean Lake as Analog of Ancient Martian Lake-Beds.

Potential benthic habitats of early Mars lakes, probably oligotrophic, could range from hydrothermal to cold sediments. Dynamic processes in the water column (such as turbidity or UV penetration) as well as in the benthic bed (temperature gradients, turbation, or sedimentation rate) contribute to supply nutrients to a potential microbial ecosystem. High altitude, oligotrophic, and deep Andean lakes with active deglaciation processes and recent or past volcanic activity are natural models to assess the feasibility of life in other planetary lake/ocean environments and to develop technology for their exploration.

Dalangtan Saline Playa in a Hyperarid Region on Tibet Plateau: II. Preservation of Salts with High Hydration Degrees in Subsurface.

Based on a field expedition to the Dalangtan (DLT) saline playa located in a hyperarid region (Qaidam Basin) on the Tibet Plateau and follow-up investigations, we report the mineralogy and geochemistry of the salt layers in two vertical stratigraphic cross sections in the DLT playa. Na-, Ca-, Mg-, KCaMg-sulfates; Na-, K-, KMg-chlorides; mixed (K, Mg)-chloride-sulfate; and chlorate and perchlorate were identified in the collected samples. This mineral assemblage represents the last-stage precipitation products from Na-K-Mg-Ca-Cl-SO brine and the oxychlorine formation from photochemistry reaction similar to other hyperarid regions on Earth.

Geoelectrodes and Fuel Cells for Simulating Hydrothermal Vent Environments.

Gradients generated in hydrothermal systems provide a significant source of free energy for chemosynthetic life and may play a role in present-day habitability on ocean worlds. Electron/proton/ion gradients, particularly in the context of hydrothermal chimney structures, may also be relevant to the origins of life on Earth. Hydrothermal vents are similar in some ways to typical fuel cell devices: redox/pH gradients between seawater and hydrothermal fluid are analogous to the fuel cell oxidant and fuel reservoirs; the porous chimney wall is analogous to a separator or ion-exchange membrane and is also a conductive path for electrons; and the hydrothermal minerals are analogous to electrode catalysts.

Dalangtan Saline Playa in a Hyperarid Region of Tibet Plateau: III. Correlated Multiscale Surface Mineralogy and Geochemistry Survey.

We report the first multiscale, systematic field-based testing of correlations between orbital scale advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer visible near-infrared (VNIR)/shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance and thermal infrared relative emissivity and outcrop scale Raman spectroscopy, VNIR reflectance, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) mineralogy and chemistry in a saline dry lakebed. This article is one of three reports describing the evolution of salt deposits, meteorological record, and surface and subsurface salt mineralogy in Dalangtan, Qaidam Basin, a hyperarid region of the Tibet Plateau, China, as potential environmental, mineralogical, and biogeochemical analogs to Mars. We have successfully bridged remote sensing data to fine scale mineralogy and chemistry data.

Dalangtan Saline Playa in a Hyperarid Region on Tibet Plateau: I. Evolution and Environments.

Since 2008, we have been studying a saline lake, Dalangtan (DLT) Playa, and its surroundings in a hyperarid region of the Qaidam Basin on the Tibetan Plateau as a potential Mars analog site. We describe the evolution of saline deposits in the Qaidam Basin (including DLT), based on investigative findings accumulated over the course of 60 years of geological surveys. In addition, we report regional meteorological patterns recorded for the past 32 years along with meteorological station recorded data at DLT since 2012.

Self-assembling iron oxyhydroxide/oxide tubular structures: laboratory-grown and field examples from Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto in southern Spain has become of increasing astrobiological significance, in particular for its similarity to environments on early Mars. We present evidence of tubular structures from sampled terraces in the stream bed at the source of the river, as well as ancient, now dry, terraces. This is the first reported finding of tubular structures in this particular environment.

Raman spectroscopy of efflorescent sulfate salts from Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site, California.

The Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site near Redding, California, is a massive sulfide ore deposit that was mined for iron, silver, gold, copper, zinc, and pyrite intermittently for nearly 100 years. As a result, both water and air reached the sulfide deposits deep within the mountain, producing acid mine drainage consisting of sulfuric acid and heavy metals from the ore. Particularly, the drainage water from the Richmond Mine at Iron Mountain is among the most acidic waters naturally found on Earth.

Analysis of Arctic ices by remote Raman spectroscopy.

A portable remote Raman instrument for field analysis has been developed. This instrument has been tested in the Arctic conditions during AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition) campaigns 2007, 2008 and 2009. Besides its capability for mineral detection the remote system proved to be a very useful tool for ice structural analysis of icebergs and ice-wall in glaciers.

Model-based measurements of diffusion of sulfuric acid into water using Raman spectroscopy.

The diffusion of molecular species within a sulfuric acid-water system has been monitored by Raman spectroscopy, a thermodynamic-chemical model of the mass transport properties of the species has been established, and its parameters optimized. It has been shown that the non-ideality of this multicomponent system plays a crucial role in its mass transport properties, which have been explained in terms of a diffusion model for the molecular species. The individual effective diffusion coefficients are not constant (characteristic of ideal systems) but are a function of the concentration of the species in solution.

A Raman spectral study of stream waters and efflorescent salts in Rio Tinto, Spain.

Acidic waters and sulfate-rich precipitates are found in mine tailings such as Rio Tinto (Huelva, SW, Spain). In this work we have characterized the chemical constituents of stream water and have identified some efflorescent salts and precipitates by means of Raman spectroscopy. Variable amounts of sulfate and bisulfate are found in the aqueous samples, suggesting changes in the acidity of the solutions.

Raman signal processing software for automated identification of mineral phases and biosignatures on Mars.

Data from the ESA ExoMars Rover Mission will provide invaluable input for further studies in astro/exobiology. The search for mineral products as indicators of present and/or past biogenetic activities in Mars' surface and subsurface samples is the main objective of the compact Raman-laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument. The inherent features of Raman spectroscopy and LIBS make the combined instrument a unique and very powerful tool in the search for biomarkers and hence it is regarded as the highest priority instrument for mineral analysis within the mission.