Organic detection in the near-infrared spectral Phobos regolith laboratory analogue in preparation for the Martian Moon eXploration mission - INSU - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers
Article Dans Une Revue Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A Année : 2023

Organic detection in the near-infrared spectral Phobos regolith laboratory analogue in preparation for the Martian Moon eXploration mission

Thomas Drant
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Zoé Perrin
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Résumé

The Martian Moon eXploration mission (MMX) of the Japanese space agency (JAXA) is scheduled to take o in September 2024 to explore Phobos and Deimos – the two martian moons – by in situ observations, but also by a sampling and returning regolith samples to Earth. The origins of Phobos and Deimos are still unknown and their understanding is one of the main goals of the MMX mission. In one scenario, Phobos could be a captured asteroid, as the Phobos spectrum is similar to dark D-type asteroids. Aims. For the present work, we considered the hypothesis of Phobos being a captured D-type asteroid, and we investigated the detectability of organics on Phobos using laboratory spectral analogues. Methods. We synthesised a near-infrared spectral analogue of Phobos composed of olivine (77 vol.%, 50-125 μm), hyper ne an- thracite (20 vol.%, <1 μm), and organic tholins (3 vol.%, ∼ 400 nm) by measuring the re ectance spectrum from 0.4 to 4.75 μm with the SHADOWS spectrogonio-radiometre developped at IPAG. The best spectral match for a Phobos regolith analogue was chosen based on its re ectance level and spectral slope similarities to Phobos’ observed spectrum. Several samples were then prepared by adding a di erent volume content of organic matter (Titan tholins). We monitored the 3 μm band attributed to N-H bands stretching modes absorption due to the amine function in the tholins, so as to assess the detectability of the NH-rich organics on Phobos. Results. We have demonstrated that the organic compounds become detectable for more than 5 vol.% in the mixture. We further studied the observation geometry e ects on the absorption band depth and found no signi cant e ect except at large phase angles (>80 ◦). These results will be useful to interpret the data of the MMX Infrared Spectrometer (MIRS) onboard the MMX spacecraft, which will measure the spectral re ectance of Phobos from 0.9 to 3.6 μm.
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Dates et versions

insu-03894063 , version 1 (12-12-2022)
insu-03894063 , version 2 (19-02-2023)

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Antonin Wargnier, Thomas Gautier, Olivier Poch, Pierre Beck, Eric Quirico, et al.. Organic detection in the near-infrared spectral Phobos regolith laboratory analogue in preparation for the Martian Moon eXploration mission. Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A, 2023, 669 (January), A146 (11p.). ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/202245294⟩. ⟨insu-03894063v2⟩
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