Mineralogical diversity and soil maturity in the MAJIS/JUICE lunar spectral data

MAJIS is the Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer onboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. It covers the spectral range from 0.5 to 5.56 µm through two spectral channels: the VIS-NIR channel (0.495–2.35 µm) and the IR channel (2.28–5.56 µm), with up to 640 spectral samples per channel. The main scientific goals of MAJIS are to investigate the surface composition and physical properties of the Jovian icy satellites by detecting ices, salts, organics, and rocky materials [1].

The JUICE mission was launched in April 2023 and will arrive at Jupiter in July 2031. During the cruise phase, JUICE performed observations of the Moon and Earth thanks to a double flyby (Lunar-Earth Gravitational Assist, LEGA) in August 2024, reaching a minimum altitude of 750 km for the Moon and 6100 km for Earth. This provided a unique opportunity to validate MAJIS’s technical and scientific performance after launch [2, 3].

On the Moon, MAJIS observed equatorial regions in Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Fecunditatis, and neighbouring highland terrains, confirming its capability to detect and map lunar mineralogical diversity and soil maturity [2, 4]. Here, we focus on regions including Duke Island and the Ruin Basin in Mare Tranquillitatis, and the Messier Crater rays in Mare Fecunditatis. Detections of glass, pyroxene and olivine in other locations are also discussed.

 

This work has been developed under the ASI-INAF agreement n. 2023-6-HH.0.

 

[1] Poulet et al., 2024, SSR. [2] Poulet et al., 2026, Ann. Geo., submitted. [3] Langevin et al., 2026, Ann. Geo., submitted. [4] Zambon et al., 2026, Ann. Geo., submitted.