IR Reflectance Spectroscopy of Martian Analogues

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show some preliminary results about IR reflectance spectroscopic properties of Martian analogues. We focus on IR measurements because most of Mars radiance is contained in this spectral range. Samples we analyze are candidate for Martian regolith. We perform two kind of reflectance measurements: specular reflectance and diffuse reflectance. The former allows us to compute the optical constants while the latter can be used to predict emittance. We present spectra in transmittance, diffuse and specular reflectance for montmorillonite and the deduced optical constants. It is important to note how spectral features in reflectance vary with particle size.