The high-resolution map of Oxia Planum, Mars; the landing site of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission
Peter Fawdon, Csilla Orgel, Solmaz Adeli, M. R. Balme, F. J. Calef, J. M. Davis, A. Frigeri, P. M. Grindrod, Ernst Hauber, L. Le Deit, D. Loizeau, Andrea Naß, Cathy Quantin‐Nataf, E. Sefton‐Nash, N. Thomas, Inès Torres, Jorge L. Vago, Matthieu Volat, Sander De Witte, Francesca Altieri, Andrea Apuzzo, Julene Aramendia, Gorka Arana, Rickbir Bahia, Steven G. Banham, Robert Barnes, Alexander M. Barrett, Wolf-Stefan Benedix, Anshuman Bhardwaj, Sarah Boazman, Tomaso R. R. Bontognali, J. C. Bridges, B. Bultel, Valérie Ciarletti, M. C. De Sanctis, Zachary I. Dickeson, Elena A. Favaro, Marco Ferrari, Frédéric Foucher, W. Goetz, A. F. C. Haldemann, Elise Harrington, Angeliki Kapatza, D. Koschny, Agata M. Krzesińska, Alice Le Gall, S. R. Lewis, T. Lim, Juan Manuel Madariaga, Benjamin Man, Lucia Mandon, N. Mangold, Javier Martín‐Torres, Joseph D. McNeil, A. Molina, Andoni Moral, S. Motaghian, S. Nikiforov, Nicolas Oudart, A. Pacifici, A. Parkes Bowen, Dirk Plettemeier, Pantelis Poulakis, Alfiah Rizky Diana Putri, O. Ruesch, Lydia Sam, Christian Schröder, Christoph Statz, Rebecca J. Thomas, Daniela Tirsch, Zsuzsanna Tóth, S. M. R. Turner, M. Voelker, Stéphanie C. Werner, Francès Westall, Barry J. Whiteside, Adam Williams, R. M. E. Williams, Jack Wright, María‐Paz Zorzano
Abstract
This 1:30,000 scale geological map describes Oxia Planum, Mars, the landing site for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission. The map represents our current understanding of bedrock units and their relationships prior to Rosalind Franklin’s exploration of this location. The map details 15 bedrock units organised into 6 groups and 7 textural and surficial units. The bedrock units were identified using visible and near-infrared remote sensing datasets. The objectives of this map are (i) to identify where the most astrobiologically relevant rocks are likely to be found, (ii) to show where hypotheses about their geological context (within Oxia Planum and in the wider geological history of Mars) can be tested, (iii) to inform both the long-term (hundreds of metres to ∼1 km) and the short-term (tens of metres) activity planning for rover exploration, and (iv) to allow the samples analysed by the rover to be interpreted within their regional geological context.