GI3.1

Data from martian rovers and martian meteorites suggest the presence of ore minerals on Mars (eg. pyrite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite). Three spectrometers: CRISM (The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars; spectral range 0.4-3.9 µm) onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), OMEGA (Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l; Activité, 0.4 - 5.1 µm ) and PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer, 1.3-45.0 µm) onboard Mars Express (MEX) operate in near infrared (NIR) spectrum and provide information on the mineral composition of Mars but none of them is yet capable to efficiently identify sulfides. Detecting sulfide ore deposits is difficult in NIR due to spectral interferences with silicates. Due to the limited in-situ measurements by the Opportunity, Spirit, Curiosity, and Perseverance rovers, Mars mineralogical studies must be supported by studies of terrestrial analogs. One example is the Rio Tinto area in Andalusia, Spain, which hosts the largest known volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits on Earth. In this area, we analyzed satellite images in the infrared spectrum (ASTER, Landsat 8). We will compare these results to mineralogical data we will retrieve in the field during envisaged geological mapping in Spring 2022. By establishing our test field for remote sensing of sulfide deposits in a PFA site on Earth, we will be able to determine abundance thresholds for the detection of major sulfide phases on Mars and identify their key spectral features. Our results will help in 1) more efficient use of the current NIR Martian spectrometers to detect ore minerals, 2) designing new space instruments optimized for ore detection to include in future missions to Mars such as one developed at the Institute of Geological Sciences and the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences called MIRORES (Martian far-IR ORE Spectrometer).

Acknowledgments: The presented research are supported by National Science Centre of Poland project OPUS19 no. 2020/37/B/ST10/01420 and Europlanet2024-research infrastructure grant no. 20-EPN2-020.

How to cite: Ciazela, M., Ciazela, J., Pieterek, B., and Marciniak, D.: The use of infrared remote sensing to prospect ore deposits on Mars. Preliminary results from a planetary field analog in the Rio Tinto mining area in Spain, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10325, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10325, 2022.

During the summer of 2021, the first CHILL-ICE analogue campaign was held in and around the Stefánshellir Lava tube in the Hallmundarhraun lava field, in the West of Iceland. Here we present some of the campaign results of the two analogue missions that made up this research campaign.

After initial EuroMoonMars campagns in 2018 and 2020, the project group, named CHILL-ICE (Construction of a Habitat Inside a Lunar-analogue Lavatube - Iceland) was founded. More than 30 young researchers, students, and collaborators from 16 countries, worked closely together and two short analogue astronaut missions were held. These missions were the main goal of this campaign, where in the future also a stronger focus on the robot-human interfaces and exploration of subsurface cave systems is planned. 

One of the rovers used during the mission was the Lunar Zebro, a student team project from TU Delft. Photo: Bernard Foing.

The two analogue astronaut missions were 55 hours each, as the main focus was on the set up and deployment of the portable and inflatable ECHO habitat inside the lava tube. To ensure a proper simulation, everything of the mission was done whilst wearing space suits, thus being limited in movement, visibility, maneuvrability, dexterity, and even time. The astronauts had an 8-hour EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) window in which all the  components had to be set up/deployed.

One of the six astronauts, working on the deployment of all the life-support and scientific systems, was photographed during a secret observation. Photo: Luis Melo.

The four main life-support systems, ECHO (Extreme Cave Habitat One), the space suits, the PVES (PhotoVoltaic Energy System) and the communication systems, were provided by sponsors from Canada (ECHO, Wilson School of Design of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University), Spain (space suits, Astroland Interplanetary Agency), the Netherlands (PVES, Blinkinglights), and Iceland (Radio system, Reykjavík University). 

The three astronauts of 'Crew Luna' during preparation and suit-testing. Fltr: David Smith, Crew Scientist; Christian Cardinaux, Crew Commander; and Agnieszka Elwertowska, Crew Engineer. 

As one of the first steps towards actual lunar lava tube survival, this first CHILL-ICE mission campaign had a strong focus on scientific research, besides the developed prototype testing. During the mission,  the crew went on EVAs to study the natural environment of the insides of the caves, collaborated with rovers and 3D cameras to map and explore, and took small geological samples for further analyses in laboratories on the mainland of Europe. Being the first mission of its kind, the CHILL-ICE Core Mission Team is thankful for all the support from our many sponsors and collaborators. A special thank you to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Reykjavík University, Astroland Interplanetary Agency, Blinkinglights, Space Iceland, GoPro, Lunar Zebro, and Árni B. Stefand and the landowners, for allowing us to study and work in this unique environment. Lava tubes are fragile environments and all research during CHILL-ICE was done with the utmost care for human and environmental safety.

ECHO habitat deployed inside Stefánshellir during the CHILL-ICE campaign. Photo: Jamal Ageli

How to cite: Heemskerk, M., Pouwels, C., Fanndal, T. A., Kerber, S., Stefánsson, Á. B., Konijnenberg, E., Elstgeest, J., and Cattani, B.: First results and Lessons Learned of CHILL-ICE 2021 Field Campaign, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-611, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-611, 2022.

   EuroMoonMars is an ILEWG initiative including several activities in the space field to facilitate Moon and Mars exploration [1-6]. EMMPOL missions are organized by EMM and AATC, aboard a confined simulator in Poland. The EMMPOL8 (9-16th September 2021) focussed on psychological wellbeing in confinement. During the simulation, biological experiments were also conducted by the crew to analyse the impact of microgravity and different light conditions on the growth of plants and to assess the lunar dust simulant toxicity to various organisms. 
   Here, we present three experiments with a focus on design which were performed by Serena Crotti, Vice-Commander of the mission, in the context of her MSc Thesis research in Integrated Product Design at Politecnico di Milano, under the academic supervision of Professors A. Dominoni, B. Quaquaro and B. Foing. Design for Space is an emerging discipline that applies design principles to the aerospace sector; increasing wellbeing and comfort are the main tasks of designers in this area. As missions get longer, psychophysical wellbeing becomes fundamental [7-9]. The following experiments stem from this context.
   The Emotion Wall. An emotional monitoring system was tested during the EMMPOL8. It collects psychological data from individuals via a dedicated software; afterwards, it processes them into a visual representation of the crew’s emotional state. This experiment was carried out in collaboration with Brent Reymen and Abdelali Ez Zyn. Testing the system and evaluating its impact on crew dynamics were the main objectives. Real-time psychological data were collected to investigate individuals’ reactions to environmental stressors. This helped keep track of criticalities that can be turned into design opportunities to improve wellbeing.
  Multi-sensory Scenarios and the Scents Experiment. Multi-sensory Scenarios exploited light, sounds and scents to simulate different environmental settings aboard. Projections recreated shadows cast by hypothetical windows and were accompanied by natural sounds and scents. In the Scents Experiment, astronauts were exposed to olfactory stimulations related to food evoking daily life. These were provided by the company AromaDesign. Stimulating the crew’s senses to provide relief from claustrophobia and monotony was the main aim. Interviews and surveys monitored the crew’s reactions.

References. [1] Foing B. et al (2021) LPSC52, 2502 [2] Musilova M. et al (2020) LPSC51, 2893 [3] Perrier I.R. et al (2021) LPSC52, 2562 [4] Foing, B. et al (2021) LPSC52, 2502 [5] Heemskerk, M. et al (2021) LPSC52, 2762 [6] Pouwels, C. et al (2021) EPSC15, 835 [7] Dominoni, A. (2021), “Design of Supporting Systems for Life in Outer Space. A Design Perspective on Space Missions Near Earth and Beyond”, Research for Development, Springer. [8] Dominoni, A., Quaquaro, B., Pappalardo, R. (2018) Space Design Learning. An Innovative Approach of Space Education Through Design, in: Proceedings of IAC 69th, Bremen, 2018. [9] Dominoni, A. (2015), “For Designers with Their Head Beyond the Clouds”, Maggioli, Milan.

How to cite: Crotti, S., Dominoni, A., Foing, B., Quaquaro, B., Reymen, B., Schlarmann, L., Zyn, A. E., Dierckx, J., and Kołodziejczyk, A.: Enhancing well-being aboard confined Space environments: the role of Design research in the EMMPOL 8 analogue mission, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5974, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5974, 2022.

Paleolakes on Mars have been proposed to be hydrologically active for thousands of years. They provide water, the prime ingredient for life to develop, and quiescent settings, making these lakes excellent targets in preserving biosignatures. Since ground truth analysis on Mars is limited to certain locations, most of the interpretations about Martian geology and past climate have been made through remote sensing. This study presents a comprehensive account of the physical and chemical aspects of an Earth-based hypersaline playa that has undergone intermittent wet and dry periods.

Sambhar Lake is the largest endorheic playa in India, situated southeast of the Aravalli mountains within the Thar Desert. The lake formed as a result of neotectonic and aeolian activity followed by stream capture like some paleolakes and hydrologically active inter-crater depressions on Mars. Sambhar Lake lies between arid and semi-arid transitional zones and is fed by two ephemeral streams indicating climate-driven hydrology. The surface and sub-surface brine samples collected from the lake were alkaline, Na-Cl type with salinity higher than the seawater. Silicate weathering and evaporation were identified as important processes responsible for influencing the hydro-geochemistry of the lake. Petrographic and geochemical analysis of the sediment and rock samples showed the presence of clay minerals and evaporites ranging from carbonates to halites suggesting that the lake had witnessed multiple hydrological cycles. The weathering index of the dried lake bed was comparable to some Gale crater samples and lakes with basaltic origin on Earth. The geochemical evolution of the Sambhar Lake is primarily governed by the inlet streams and their composition, partition of solutes in the water, and concentration of the evaporites. Thus, Sambhar Lake is a classic example of the climate-induced transition of a lacustrine basin to a playa. It may be helpful to study the evolution of hydrological basins, their morphology, and the process of mineral formation on Mars.

How to cite: Singh, D., Singh, P., Roy, N., and Mukherjee, S.: Geochemical and sedimentological analysis of hypersaline Sambhar Lake of India: implications for paleolake exploration on Mars, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-337, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-337, 2022.

With the rapid advances in manned spaceflight technology, astronauts will stay in spatial habitat for a long time in the future, and spatial missions will be more diversified, which will place higher requirements on human-machine spacecraft systems. As an important visual element for interacting with astronauts, human-machine interfaces not only affect the astronauts’ physical, psychological and cognitive activities, but also their work efficiency and even the safety of the space mission. This study system investigated publications, videos and pictures from NASA, ESA, China Space Center and Roscosmos. It was found that colour elements play an important role in the life and work of astronauts and profoundly affect the habitability level of the space environment. At the same time, it was found that human physiological parameters, cognitive and decision-making abilities, human psychological factors are the main abilities affected by colour elements. Through sketching as well as 3D modelling and rendering, the relevant cabin interfaces of the future spatial habitat's areas for work, hygiene were designed. This study provides some enlightenment for future research on the colour design of spacecraft environments or lunar or Mars habitat environments.

How to cite: Jiang, A., Yao, X., Foing, B., Westland, S., Hemingray, C., and Mu, S.: Integrating Human Factors into the Colour Design of Human-Machine Interfaces for Spatial Habitat, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-622, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-622, 2022.

Mars is the only planet in our solar system with an atmosphere for which there have been no observations of lightning. Despite this, it is expected to occur, with the planet known to have dust devils, which due to triboelectrification become charged. Terrestrially, dust storms generate electric fields of around 100 kV/m and there have been recordings of magnetic fields in the region of 0.4 nT. On Earth, the electric fields are not sufficient to cause breakdown. If dust devils generate similar fields on Mars, the field strength will exceed the breakdown field strength of approximately 20 kV/m, thus discharges can be expected – although these may not take the form of terrestrial discharges. The Kazachok surface platform of ExoMars 2022 will deliver the MAIGRET instrument (consisting of a search coil magnetometer, electric field antenna, and a flux gate magnetometer), which will put the capability to measure electric and magnetic fields onto Mars. To better understand the dust devils on Mars, and to aid with the interpretation of returned data from ExoMars, a series of experiments are planned to investigate the magnetic fields from charged dust.

In 2003 Krauss et al performed experiments to determine the necessary conditions for sufficient tribocharging to cause breakdown in a Mars-like atmosphere by first mixing dust to simulate wind speed, and then by dropping dust vertically at a range of pressures. Based upon Krauss’s work, two experiments will be performed with an electric field mill (CS110) and the engineering model of the MAIGRET search coil and thus two hypotheses will be tested. These are, firstly, that the vertical separation of charge is responsible for the electric field, and, secondly, that the spiralling motion of the charged particles is responsible for the magnetic field. The planned vertical drop and horizontal mixing experiments isolate these components of motion, allowing the predictions to be tested.

How to cite: Reid, D. and Aplin, K.: Experimental Measurements of Electric and Magnetic Fields in Simulated Dust Storms., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5785, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5785, 2022.

Ionisation in planetary atmospheres resulting from cosmic rays fragments atmospheric molecules resulting in the formation of free ions. The rate at which ions are produced varies with altitude and is determined by a combination of the cosmic ray flux and atmospheric density. The altitude at which this ion production rate peaks is known as the Pfotzer-Regener maximum which, on Earth, occurs at around 15-20 km. On Venus this maximum occurs at ~63 km, coinciding with the main cloud deck. This study investigates the effects enhanced ionisation may have on cloud droplets and their behaviour. Interactions between the ions produced and cloud droplets may have many consequences, including activation at lower saturation ratios, enhanced droplet coalescence and, for large charges, droplet breakup by Rayleigh instability.

This work explores the effects of ionisation on water droplets in the laboratory and also simulates some of the conditions occurring in the clouds of Venus. The main element of the experimental apparatus is an acoustic levitator that can allow individual droplets to be electrically isolated and observed. Measurements are taken by a CCD camera and processed using LabView image acquisition software. The droplets can be subjected to enhanced ionisation from a corona source and perturbed by using a 10 kV/m electric field placed across the droplet causing it to be deflected relative to its charge. The principal findings on water droplets were that higher charge led to a slower evaporation rate; however, higher charge also led to increased incidence of Rayleigh explosions which were observed during several of the experiments. Overall, the effect of charge slowing evaporation did not lead to a longer droplet lifetime due to mass loss occurring from the periodic Rayleigh instabilities. In order to simulate conditions more like the clouds of Venus, sulphuric acid droplets were also examined. It was found that even very dilute sulphuric acid was extremely resistant to evaporation, suggesting that the clouds of Venus may have very long-lived droplet lifetimes. This has wide-reaching implications as cloud droplets on Venus have been suggested to act as a substrate for possible microbial life in the clouds.

How to cite: Airey, M., Harrison, R. G., Aplin, K., Pfrang, C., and Nicoll, K.: Planetary analogue studies of charge effects on cloud droplet behaviour, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9937, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9937, 2022.