Artifact-corrected Spectra from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer on the Spirit Rover

Artifact-corrected Spectra from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer on the Spirit Rover Artifact-corrected Spectra from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer on the Spirit Rover The thermal infrared (~5-25 m) emissivity spectra from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit provided key information for the most important discoveries of the mission [1; 2] as well as documenting the geologic diversity and distribution of rocks and soils in Gusev crater [3; 4]. On sol 420, a wind-related event deposited dust on one of the Mini-TES mirrors used to view targets [3]. Fortunately this dust contamination was not sufficient to be fully obscuring, but it did create substantial spectral contributions or artifacts due to dust. Referred to as mirror dust, a correction was developed for atmospheric observations [5] and validated for use in surface observations [6]. This mirror-dust correction has been applied to a limited number of Mini-TES spectra over the years as part of specific investigations [e.g., 1; 2; 4; 6], but has never been universally applied to the hundreds of spectra that constitute the full dataset. None of the corrected spectra have been archived with the PDS. Consequently, the mirror-dust contaminated spectra are effectively unusable by the Mars exploration community. I propose to systematically apply the validated mirror-dust correction to all Mini-TES spectra obtained for surface targets following the sol 420 dust contamination event through to sol 1220, after which additional wind-related events produced substantial additions of dust that at this point, are not correctable. There are nearly 1000 surface observations within this time span, some of which include rasters (multiple pointings). Based on previous experience, it will take about one person-month to correct these spectra. The resulting mirror-dust corrected emissivity spectra would be ideally suited to archiving as a Special Product on the PDS MER Analysts Notebook site. I expect another half a person-month will be needed to archive the data on this site. No other personnel beyond the PI are needed to complete the work. The nature of the planned work falls within the scope of the PDART program. It is particularly relevant to the call to generate higher-order data products, archive and restore data sets or products and to increase the amount and quality of digital information and data products available for planetary science research and exploration. The requirement that data products must be archived in the NASA PDS or an equivalent archive will be honored.