Pablo Sobron

SETI Institute · Carl Sagan Center

Abstract The Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site near Redding, California, is a massive sulfide ore deposit that was mined for iron, silver, gold, copper, zinc, and pyrite intermittently for nearly 100 years. As a result, both water and air reached the sulfide deposits deep within the mountain, producing acid mine drainage consisting of sulfuric acid...

performed laboratory laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser Raman spectroscopy measurements on samples from a layered outcrop from the Atacama Desert, Chile. This outcrop is a terrestrial morphological and possibly mineralogical analogue for similar formations that will likely be investigated by the Curiosity rover at Gale Crater. Ou...

In the search for biosignatures on Mars, there is an abundance of data from orbiters and rovers to characterize global and regional habitability, but much less information is available at the scales and resolutions of microbial habitats and biosignatures. Understanding whether the distribution of terrestrial biosignatures is characterized by recogn...

The SuperCam instrument on the Perseverance Mars 2020 rover uses a pulsed 1064 nm laser to ablate targets at a distance and conduct laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) by analyzing the light from the resulting plasma. SuperCam LIBS spectra are preprocessed to remove ambient light, noise, and the continuum signal present in LIBS observations...

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) is a robotic arm-mounted instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover. SHERLOC has two primary boresights. The Spectroscopy boresight generates spatially resolved chemical maps using fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy coupled to microscopic images (10.1...

SuperCam is a highly integrated remote-sensing instrumental suite for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. It consists of a co-aligned combination of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Time-Resolved Raman and Luminescence (TRR/L), Visible and Infrared Spectroscopy (VISIR), together with sound recording (MIC) and high-magnification imaging techniques...

Remote Compositional Analysis - edited by Janice L. Bishop November 2019

Cambridge Core - History of Astronomy and Cosmology - Remote Compositional Analysis - edited by Janice L. Bishop

On our planet, aqueous environments such as deep sea or high-altitude aphotic lakes, subject to present or past volcanic activity and active deglaciation, may provide analogs to the aqueous environments found on such planetary bodies as Europa, Titan or Enceladus. We report here on the methodologies and technologies tested in Laguna Negra, a high a...

Potential benthic habitats of early Mars lakes, probably oligotrophic, could range from hydrothermal to cold sediments. Dynamic processes in the water column (such as turbidity or UV penetration) as well as in the benthic bed (temperature gradients, turbation, or sedimentation rate) contribute to supply nutrients to a potential microbial ecosystem....

Based on a field expedition to the Dalangtan (DLT) saline playa located in a hyperarid region (Qaidam Basin) on the Tibet Plateau and follow-up investigations, we report the mineralogy and geochemistry of the salt layers in two vertical stratigraphic cross sections in the DLT playa. Na-, Ca-, Mg-, KCaMg-sulfates; Na-, K-, KMg-chlorides; mixed (K, M...

Gradients generated in hydrothermal systems provide a significant source of free energy for chemosynthetic life and may play a role in present-day habitability on ocean worlds. Electron/proton/ion gradients, particularly in the context of hydrothermal chimney structures, may also be relevant to the origins of life on Earth. Hydrothermal vents are s...

We report the first multiscale, systematic field-based testing of correlations between orbital scale advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer visible near-infrared (VNIR)/shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance and thermal infrared relative emissivity and outcrop scale Raman spectroscopy, VNIR reflectance, X-ray diffraction (XRD...

We report the first multiscale, systematic field-based testing of correlations between orbital scale advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer visible near-infrared (VNIR)/shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance and thermal infrared relative emissivity and outcrop scale Raman spectroscopy, VNIR reflectance, X-ray diffraction (XRD...

Since 2008, we have been studying a saline lake, Dalangtan (DLT) Playa, and its surroundings in a hyperarid region of the Qaidam Basin on the Tibetan Plateau as a potential Mars analog site. We describe the evolution of saline deposits in the Qaidam Basin (including DLT), based on investigative findings accumulated over the course of 60 years of ge...

The 8th meeting of the NASA Astrobiology Institute’s Thermodynamics, Disequilibrium, Evolution (TDE) Focus Group took place in November 2014 at the Earth-Life Science Institute, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. The principal aim of this workshop was to discuss the conditions for early Earth conducive for the emergence of life, with part...

Rio Tinto in southern Spain has become of increasing astrobiological significance, in particular for its similarity to environments on early Mars. We present evidence of tubular structures from sampled terraces in the stream bed at the source of the river, as well as ancient, now dry, terraces. This is the first reported finding of tubular structur...

We demonstrate that Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is capable of identifying the presence of natural rock coatings, and we define LIBS signatures of complex multi-layered coatings. This is illustrated by detailed LIBS analysis, in Mars-simulated conditions, of a rock collected in the Svalbard Islands, and which is analogous to some alt...

SHERLOC is an arm-mounted fluorescence and Raman spectrometer that was recently selected to be part of the payload for the next proposed NASA rover mission to Mars, scheduled for launch in 2020. SHERLOC enables non-contact, spatially resolved, high sensitivity detection and characterization of organics and minerals on the Martian surface. The inves...

The SHERLOC investigation was recently selected for the Mars 2020 integrated payload. SHERLOC enables non-contact, spatially resolved, and highly sensitivity detection and characterization of organics and minerals on Mars.

We have built three multivariate analysis mathematical models based on principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLS), and artificial neural networks (ANNs) to detect sulfate minerals in geological samples from laser Raman spectral data. We have critically assessed the potential of the models to automatically detect and quantify th...

PLL is a step toward robotic awareness without constant human oversight. It is applied here to the concept of adaptive exploration of Titan’s seas.

Investigating the use of ion-selective optical sensors for characterizing biologically significant water chemistry in extreme environments.

The exploration of Mars, Europa and Enceladus has provided evidence that support the existence of present or past potentially habitable environments, which may shelter signatures of extinct or extant life. A search for further evidence for habitability or for life requires the development of sophisticated instruments and techniques that enable deta...

Using social media to share our excitement for a robotics, climate change, and adaptive science project relevant to Titan's exploration from the Chilean Andes.

Salt mineralogy of a stratigraphic section suggests three episodes of brine intrusion, with subsurface salts having high hydration degree in this hyperarid region.

Data fusion in LIBS and Laser Raman Spectroscopy enables more robust detection of salts in binary mixtures than would be possible using both techniques alone.

The PLL robotic probe, an analog to future missions to the lakes and seas of Titan, uses onboard autonomous science data understanding to drive its behavior.

The Curiosity rover discovered fine-grained sedimentary rocks, which are inferred to represent an ancient lake and preserve evidence of an environment that would have been suited to support a martian biosphere founded on chemolithoautotrophy. This aqueous environment was characterized by neutral pH, low salinity, and variable redox states of both i...

Sedimentary rocks examined by the Curiosity rover at Yellowknife Bay, Mars, were derived from sources that evolved from an approximately average martian crustal composition to one influenced by alkaline basalts. No evidence of chemical weathering is preserved, indicating arid, possibly cold, paleoclimates and rapid erosion and deposition. The absen...

Sedimentary rocks at Yellowknife Bay (Gale crater) on Mars include mudstone sampled by the Curiosity rover. The samples, John Klein and Cumberland, contain detrital basaltic minerals, calcium sulfates, iron oxide or hydroxides, iron sulfides, amorphous material, and trioctahedral smectites. The John Klein smectite has basal spacing of ~10 angstroms...

H2O, CO2, SO2, O2, H2, H2S, HCl, chlorinated hydrocarbons, NO, and other trace gases were evolved during pyrolysis of two mudstone samples acquired by the Curiosity rover at Yellowknife Bay within Gale crater, Mars. H2O/OH-bearing phases included 2:1 phyllosilicate(s), bassanite, akaganeite, and amorphous materials. Thermal decomposition of carbona...

The ChemCam instrument, which provides insight into martian soil chemistry at the submillimeter scale, identified two principal soil types along the Curiosity rover traverse: a fine-grained mafic type and a locally derived, coarse-grained felsic type. The mafic soil component is representative of widespread martian soils and is similar in compositi...

“Jake_M,” the first rock analyzed by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the Curiosity rover, differs substantially in chemical composition from other known martian igneous rocks: It is alkaline (textgreater15% normative nepheline) and relatively fractionated. Jake_M is compositionally similar to terrestrial mugearites, a rock type...

Introduction: We have recorded in-situ NIR re-flectance spectra from three Mars analogues: Atacama, Chile, Svalbard, Norway, and Qaidam Basin, China, and used spectral mixture analysis improved algorithms to determine the mineralogical composition of select samples from these three sites. Mission Description and Scientific Merit: NIR reflectance sp...

Mars' Atmosphere from Curiosity The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in August last year is designed to study the chemical and isotopic composition of the martian atmosphere. Mahaffy et al. (p. 263 ) present volume-mixing ratios of Mars' five major atmospheric constituents (CO 2 , Ar, N 2 , O 2 , a...

Mars' Atmosphere from Curiosity The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in August last year is designed to study the chemical and isotopic composition of the martian atmosphere. Mahaffy et al. (p. 263 ) present volume-mixing ratios of Mars' five major atmospheric constituents (CO 2 , Ar, N 2 , O 2 , a...

Observations by the Mars Science Laboratory Mast Camera (Mastcam) in Gale crater reveal isolated outcrops of cemented pebbles (2 to 40 millimeters in diameter) and sand grains with textures typical of fluvial sedimentary conglomerates. Rounded pebbles in the conglomerates indicate substantial fluvial abrasion. ChemCam emission spectra at one outcro...

We have characterized complex iron- and sulfate-bearing samples from Rio Tinto (Spain) using X-ray diffraction (XRD), visible-near infrared reflectance (VNIR) spectroscopy, and laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS). Samples were collected for this study from the Peña de Hierro region of Rio Tinto because this site represents a natural acidic environment t...

Mg-rich phyllosilicates may be important indicators of past habitable conditions on Mars. Spectral reflectance and LIBS characteristics of Mg-clays are described.

Three active sensors, MMRS, WIR, and BUF, were used in an Atacama field test. They provided complimentary science and suitable for next planetary surface exploration.

We describe a method for characterizing the chemistry of water bodies in the solar system using optical sensors equipped with ion-selective membranes.

The use of multivariate analysis techniques such as PCA, PLS and ANN are evaluated for its use in the framework of the operation of the RLS instrument of the ExoMars mission. Results are encouraging, and demonstrate that these techniques can provide critical information for the identification and quantification of mineral phases in geological sampl...

In this paper, we show a geochemical investigation of a natural coated basalt that demonstrates the capability of LIBS to produce 3-D chemical maps of targets.

The elemental and molecular features of water ice mixed with salts and organics relevant to Europa have been analyzed using laser Raman and LIBS instruments.

In this work we have characterized a layered deposit formed from the evaporation of stream water from Rio Tinto, Spain, a relevant Mars analog site. The minerals detected in-situ, confirmed later via high resolution Raman spectroscopy.

Given the volume of spectral data required for providing accurate compositional information and thereby insight in mineralogy and petrology from laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measurements, fast data processing tools are a must. This is particularly true during the tactical operations of rover-based planetary exploration missions such...

A planetary environment and analysis chamber (PEACh) has been developed at Washington University in St. Louis, in order to perform in situ multiple spectroscopic measurements on geological samples under relevant planetary environmental conditions and to support future planetary missions, with particular interest on Mars. The pressure in the chamber...

We performed in-situ imaging and spectral analysis of redbeds in Svalbard using prototypes of mission instruments. We evaluated synergies between optical/spectroscopic instruments and characterized red sandstones in a Mars analogue site.

We present results of the application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least-Squares Regression (PLSR) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for the identification of sulphates in pure and mixed samples. The studied samples include Fe-, Mg-, Ca-, and Na sulphates.

It has been suggested that Martian iron rich sulfate and oxyhydroxide deposits were precipitated from meltwaters[1], thought to have been acidic. Alternatively, iron(III)-rich hydrated sulfates from oxidized sulfides observed in the outcrops may occur as a result of long-term reactions[4]. Recent analysis of Martian materials support that they come...

A portable remote Raman instrument for field analysis has been developed. This instrument has been tested in the Arctic conditions during AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition) campaigns 2007, 2008 and 2009. Besides its capability for mineral detection the remote system proved to be a very useful tool for ice structural analysis of icebergs...

We have developed a set of routines for fast geochemical evaluation of LIBS targets under Earth and Mars atmospheric conditions. The atomic fractions of K, Na, Mg, Ca, Al, Fe, S, H in sulfate samples are calculated by using calibration functions.

Raman peaks shifts and narrowing have been monitored as a function of temperature for Mars relevant minerals to help the sample identification and characterization that will be made by a flight laser Raman spectrometer during the ExoMars mission.

NIR spectral signatures of phyllosilicates were recognized on Mars with wide distributions from orbit by OMEGA (on Mars Express orbiter) and CRISM (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) observations. On the ground, geochemical and spectral features related to phyllosilicates were identified in rocks at two locations on Columbia Hill at Gusev crater using...

Hydrated sulfates found in the subsurface at Gusev and at saline playa on the Tibet Plateau imply a high RH environment, supported by lab studies. A high-RH, salt-rich subsurface can accommodate organisms, e.g., halophiles in the Tibet saline playa.