Emissivity of Phyllosilicates From the Berlin Emissivity Database (BED) in the [3, 50] Micron Spectral Range in Support of Remote Sensed Data Analysis

Abstract

Phyllosilicates on Mars have been identified few years ago by the OMEGA instrument on the ESA Mars Express mission. Confirmation of the detection came recently from the CRISM spectrometer, on board the NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These minerals formed on Mars in the Noachian period, when moderate pH and large amount of available water occurred. Emissivity spectra of several terrestrial phyllosilicates have been measured in the Planetary Emissivity Laboratory (PEL) at DLR in Berlin, to build a spectral library of analogue materials. This dataset can be very useful for the interpretation of OMEGA and CRISM data in the 3 to 5 micron spectral region. On the other hand, such spectral library is essential for the analysis of data from the PFS on Mars Express and TES on NASA Mars Global Surveyor missions.