Premium
Avoiding misidentification of bands in planetary Raman spectra
Author(s) -
Harris Liam V.,
McHugh Melissa,
Hutchinson Ian B.,
Ingley Richard,
Malherbe Cédric,
Parnell John,
Olcott Marshall Alison,
Edwards Howell G. M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of raman spectroscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.748
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1097-4555
pISSN - 0377-0486
DOI - 10.1002/jrs.4667
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , raman spectroscopy , spectrometer , payload (computing) , spectral resolution , remote sensing , extraterrestrial life , astrobiology , spacecraft , exploration of mars , solar system , space exploration , computer science , spectral line , environmental science , geology , physics , optics , astronomy , computer network , network packet
Raman spectroscopy has been identified as a powerful tool for astrobiology and remote robotic planetary exploration. It can be used to identify and characterise rock matrices, mineral inclusions and organic molecules and is demonstrably effective at identifying biomarkers, or indicators of biological activity. The ExoMars rover, jointly operated by the European and Russian Federal Space Agencies, will carry the first Raman spectrometer into space when it launches in 2018 and two further Raman instruments have recently been announced as part of the payload onboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mars 2020 rover. Each of these spectrometers however will, by necessity, have poorer resolution than the most sophisticated laboratory instruments because of mass, volume and power constraints and the space readiness of the requisite technologies. As a result, it is important to understand the minimum instrument specification required to achieve the scientific objectives of a mission, in terms of parameters such as spectral resolution and laser footprint size. This requires knowledge of the target minerals and molecules between which there may be ambiguity when identifying bands in spectra from geological samples. Here, we present spectra from a number of Mars analogue samples that include a range of such molecules, highlighting where such confusion may occur and identifying the most useful bands for differentiation. It is recommended that a Raman spectrometer achieves a resolution of at least 3 cm −1 and covers a spectral range from 100 to 4000 cm −1 in order to differentiate between all of the target molecules presented here. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.