A Compact Planetary Simulation Chamber for the Characterization of the Bi-Directional Reflectance of Asteroid, Cometary, and Solar System Small Bodies (SSSB) Analogues at Low-Temperature Environments

Kurzfassung

Over the course of more than 3 decades, the Institute for Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has gained considerable expertise in spectroscopy of minerals, rocks, meteorites and organic matter. At DRL’s Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL), a wide range of planetary analogue materials are routinely analyzed. PSL facilities are equipped to provide unique capabilities in measuring emissivity of fine-grained powder materials over a very wide spectral range, bulk materials and coatings at temperatures up to 1000K across the whole infrared wavelength range. A set up for the characterization of asteroid analogues by means emission and reflectance spectroscopy is available [1] and reflectance spectra at room temperature have been measured [2]. As a response to the current and future research ambitions at the PSL, the extension of the capabilities towards low-T reflectance measurements has been started. Currently, PSL is operating a test setup cooled by liquid nitrogen and using the internal sample chamber of a Bruker VERTEX 80V. The goal is the development of a compact low-temperature vacuum chamber for bidirectional reflectance measurements. This will allow the characterization of analog materials for icy moons, asteroids, comets and solar system small bodies (SSSB) at low-temperature environments