SHERLOC Raman Mineral Class Detections of the Mars 2020 Crater Floor Campaign
Andrea Corpolongo, Ryan S. Jakubek, Aaron Burton, A. J. Brown, Anastasia Yanchilina, Andrew D. Czaja, A. Steele, Brittan Wogsland, Carina Lee, David Flannery, Desirée Baker, E. A. Cloutis, Emily Cardarelli, Eva L. Scheller, E. L. Berger, F. M. McCubbin, Joseph Razzell Hollis, Keyron Hickman‐Lewis, Kim Steadman, Kyle Uckert, Lauren DeFlores, Linda C. Kah, L. W. Beegle, M. Fries, M. E. Minitti, Nikole C. Haney, P. G. Conrad, R. V. Morris, R. Bhartia, Ryan D. Roppel, Sandra Siljeström, Sanford A. Asher, Sergei V. Bykov, Sunanda Sharma, Svetlana Shkolyar, Teresa Fornaro, William Abbey
Abstract
Abstract The goals of NASA's Mars 2020 mission include searching for evidence of ancient life on Mars, studying the geology of Jezero crater, understanding Mars' current and past climate, and preparing for human exploration of Mars. During the mission's first science campaign, the Perseverance rover's SHERLOC deep UV Raman and fluorescence instrument collected microscale, two‐dimensional Raman and fluorescence images on 10 natural (unabraded) and abraded targets on two different Jezero crater floor units: Séítah and Máaz. We report SHERLOC Raman measurements collected during the Crater Floor Campaign and discuss their implications regarding the origin and history of Séítah and Máaz. The data support the conclusion that Séítah and Máaz are mineralogically distinct igneous units with complex aqueous alteration histories and suggest that the Jezero crater floor once hosted an environment capable of supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of that life, if it existed.