You are currently viewing <a href="https://sites.google.com/inaf.it/mamiss-en/last-news?authuser=0">Rio Tinto campaign to better understand Oxia Planum</a>

Rio Tinto campaign to better understand Oxia Planum

The campaign involving several members of the Ma_MISS team in Rio Tinto, Andalusia (Spain) has come to an end. As the landing site of the ExoMars mission (Oxia Planum) shows mineralogical and morphological clues that could be characterised by a hydrothermal history and a long duration of surface aqueous activity, in the Rio Tinto area the Ma_MISS team conducted a field campaign by performing a series of VIS-NIR measurements through a portable spectrometer and collecting representative samples that will be measured with the laboratory model of the Ma_MISS instrument. The spectral data obtained during the measurement campaign in the Rio Tinto area will be compared with laboratory measurements on the respective samples collected. This further phase of investigation will improve the understanding of the mineralogy and alteration processes that have occurred on the rocks and soils of the studied area, and further studies will be undertaken on some of the selected samples, with drill tests and spectroscopic measurements.