0000000000614349
AUTHOR
William V. Boynton
Report of the COSPAR Mars special regions colloquium
International audience; In this paper we present the findings of a COSPAR Mars Special Regions Colloquium held in Rome in 2007. We review and discuss the definition of Mars Special Regions, the physical parameters used to define Mars Special Regions, and physical features on Mars that can be interpreted as Mars Special Regions. We conclude that any region experiencing temperatures > -25 degrees C for a few hours a year and a water activity > 0.5 can potentially allow the replication of terrestrial microorganisms. Physical features on Mars that can be interpreted as meeting these conditions constitute a Mars Special Region. Based on current knowledge of the martian environment and the conser…
An Active X-Ray Spectrometer for the SELENE-2 Rover
The Active X-ray Spectrometer (AXS) for the Japanese SELENE-2 rover has been proposed for elemental analysis on the lunar surface to measure the major elements: Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe; the minor elements, Na, K, P, S, Cl, Cr, and Mn and the trace element Ni, all depending on their concentrations at a landing site. The elemental data of the AXS allow us to not only classification but also quantification of surface rocks on the Moon. The AXS is a compact low-weight instrument for elemental analysis based on the principle of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry using an X-ray spectrometer and two (four) pyroelectric crystals as X-Ray Generators (XRG). This paper introduces the current status of…