Ground Validation Experiment and Spectral Detection Capability Evaluation of Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer (MMS) Aboard HX-1 Orbiter

As a hyperspectral imager aboard the orbiter HX-1 of China's first Mars mission, the Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer (MMS) is designed with hyperspectral and multispectral operation modes to survey the mineral types and their distribution on the surface of Mars, and to study the overall chemical composition and evolution history of Mars. The multispectral modes of MMS are different from hyperspectral modes on the bands selection, spatial and spectral resolution, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) etc. So the spectral detection capability of each mode of MMS is also different. The ground validation experiment of MMS is conducted to evaluate the hyperspectral and multispectral data quality and detection capabilities. The main conclusions include: (1) The measured hyperspectra of typical mineral samples obtained by MMS agree well with the data acquired by the Standard Comparison Spectrometers (SCS) under the same measurement conditions, and the spectral uncertainty between MMS and SCS is less than 7% in the key spectral ranges (0.7 similar to 2.2 mu m). For some typical minerals, the absorption band positions deviation between MMS and SCS are within 0.69 similar to 14.86 nm, which are within the spectral resolution limits of MMS. (2) The six sets of band combinations designed for MMS multispectral modes are slightly superior to CRISM's multispectral mode in terms of spectral resolutions and bands selection, the water-containing minerals will be more accurately distinguished and identified, such as montmorillonite and kaolinite. Besides, the SNR of each multispectral mode is greater than 400 in the 500-2600 nm spectral range, which meets the requirements for the subtle spectral characteristics of water-containing minerals. (3) Benefiting from the MMS ground validation experiment and the experience of the OMEGA and CRISM, it is recommended that MMS first adopt the spatial continuous 52-sample or 104-sample (spatial resolution is about 0.53 similar to 1.06 km) multispectral operation mode for typical minerals global mapping and finding target areas of interest. Then the 208-sample multispectral mode (spatial resolution is about similar to 265 m) or 26-sample hyperspectral mode can be used to survey target areas of interest for the subtle mineral types characteristics and distribution. At last, 26-sample hyperspectral mode could be used to monitor the atmospheric composition of Mars by limb observations.

Automated summary

As a hyperspectral imager aboard the orbiter HX-1 of China's first Mars mission, the Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer (MMS) is designed to survey the mineral types and their distribution on the surface of Mars, and to study the overall chemical composition and evolution history of Mars. The ground validation experiment of MMS is conducted to evaluate the data quality and detection capabilities. The results show that MMS performs well in measuring mineral samples and has superior spectral resolutions and bands selection in its multispectral modes compared to other devices.