Geology topics

J. Mustard

Publications and source records attributed to J. Mustard.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2021

Solar-system-wide significance of Mars polar science

1. The North Polar Layered Deposits contain thousands of ice layers that record accumulation and climate history for at least several million years, making the most accessible and most complete climate record aside from the Earth’s – and the only one to record the impact of large obliquity shifts. 2. Mars Polar Science is a diverse and integrated system spanning much of the planet, above and below the surface: geographic poles, mid- and high-latitudes, numerous active volatile processes that interact with the near-surface, and the lower and middle atmosphere circulations, even influencing the upper atmosphere and atmospheric escape. 3. Mars polar processes serves as an analogue and scientific link to numerous solar system bodies. Mars has two volatile cycles that influence surface processes, atmospheric processes, and climate cycles. Mars, with many data sets and observations, serves as a proxy for outer planets and moons that undergo the same physics but with other volatile species. Additionally, technology designed for Mars polar exploration benefits exploration elsewhere. 4. Mars Polar and Atmospheric Science results are critical for future human exploration and in situ resources and the study of planetary habitability.

Bulletin of the AAS↗

USGS2011

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) imaging spectrometer for lunar science: Instrument description, calibration, on‐orbit measurements, science data calibration and on‐orbit validation

The NASA Discovery Moon Mineralogy Mapper imaging spectrometer was selected to pursue a wide range of science objectives requiring measurement of composition at fine spatial scales over the full lunar surface. To pursue these objectives, a broad spectral range imaging spectrometer with high uniformity and high signal-to-noise ratio capable of measuring compositionally diagnostic spectral absorption features from a wide variety of known and possible lunar materials was required. For this purpose the Moon Mineralogy Mapper imaging spectrometer was designed and developed that measures the spectral range from 430 to 3000 nm with 10 nm spectral sampling through a 24 degree field of view with 0.7 milliradian spatial sampling. The instrument has a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 400 for the specified equatorial reference radiance and greater than 100 for the polar reference radiance. The spectral cross-track uniformity is >90% and spectral instantaneous field-of-view uniformity is >90%. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper was launched on Chandrayaan-1 on the 22nd of October. On the 18th of November 2008 the Moon Mineralogy Mapper was turned on and collected a first light data set within 24 h. During this early checkout period and throughout the mission the spacecraft thermal environment and orbital parameters varied more than expected and placed operational and data quality constraints on the measurements. On the 29th of August 2009, spacecraft communication was lost. Over the course of the flight mission 1542 downlinked data sets were acquired that provide coverage of more than 95% of the lunar surface. An end-to-end science data calibration system was developed and all measurements have been passed through this system and delivered to the Planetary Data System (PDS.NASA.GOV). An extensive effort has been undertaken by the science team to validate the Moon Mineralogy Mapper science measurements in the context of the mission objectives. A focused spectral, radiometric, spatial, and uniformity validation effort has been pursued with selected data sets including an Earth-view data set. With this effort an initial validation of the on-orbit performance of the imaging spectrometer has been achieved, including validation of the cross-track spectral uniformity and spectral instantaneous field of view uniformity. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper is the first imaging spectrometer to measure a data set of this kind at the Moon. These calibrated science measurements are being used to address the full set of science goals and objectives for this mission.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2011

Lunar mare deposits associated with the Orientale impact basin: New insights into mineralogy, history, mode of emplacement, and relation to Orientale Basin evolution from Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) data from Chandrayaan-1

Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) image and spectral reflectance data are combined to analyze mare basalt units in and adjacent to the Orientale multiring impact basin. Models are assessed for the relationships between basin formation and mare basalt emplacement. Mare basalt emplacement on the western nearside limb began prior to the Orientale event as evidenced by the presence of cryptomaria. The earliest post-Orientale-event mare basalt emplacement occurred in the center of the basin (Mare Orientale) and postdated the formation of the Orientale Basin by about 60-100 Ma. Over the next several hundred million years, basalt patches were emplaced first along the base of the Outer Rook ring (Lacus Veris) and then along the base of the Cordillera ring (Lacus Autumni), with some overlap in ages. The latest basalt patches are as young as some of the youngest basalt deposits on the lunar nearside. M3 data show several previously undetected mare patches on the southwestern margins of the basin interior. Regardless, the previously documented increase in mare abundance from the southwest toward the northeast is still prominent. We attribute this to crustal and lithospheric trends moving from the farside to the nearside, with correspondingly shallower density and thermal barriers to basaltic magma ascent and eruption toward the nearside. The wide range of model ages for Orientale mare deposits (3.70-1.66 Ga) mirrors the range of nearside mare ages, indicating that the small amount of mare fill in Orientale is not due to early cessation of mare emplacement but rather to limited volumes of extrusion for each phase during the entire period of nearside mare basalt volcanism. This suggests that nearside and farside source regions may be similar but that other factors, such as thermal and crustal thickness barriers to magma ascent and eruption, may be determining the abundance of surface deposits on the limbs and farside. The sequence, timing, and elevation of mare basalt deposits suggest that regional basin-related stresses exerted control on their distribution. Our analysis clearly shows that Orientale serves as an excellent example of the early stages of the filling of impact basins with mare basalt. Copyright ?? 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2009

The Moon mineralogy mapper (M 3 ) on Chandrayaan-1

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3 ) is a NASA-supported guest instrument on ISRO's remote sensing mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1. The M 3 is an imaging spectrometer that operates from the visible into the near-infrared (0.42-3.0 ??m) where highly diagnostic mineral absorption bands occur. Over the course of the mission M 3 will provide low resolution spectroscopic data for the entire lunar surface at 140 m/pixel (86 spectral channels) to be used as a base-map and high spectral resolution science data (80 m/pixel; 260 spectral channels) for 25-50% of the surface. The detailed mineral assessment of different lunar terrains provided by M 3 is principal information needed for understanding the geologic evolution of the lunar crust and lays the foundation for focused future in-depth exploration of the Moon.

Current Science↗