Planetary surfaces

Abstract:

Measurements of the light scattering behaviour of the regoliths of airless bodies via remote sensing techniques in the Solar System, across wavelengths from the visible to the far infrared, are essential in understanding their surface properties. A key parameter is knowledge of the angular behaviour of scattered light, usually represented mathematically by a phase function. The phase function is believed to be dependent on many factors including the following: surface composition, surface roughness across all length scales, and the wavelength of radiation. Although there have been many phase function measurements of regolith analog materials across visible wavelengths, there have been no equivalent measurements made in the thermal infrared (TIR). This may have been due to a lack of TIR instruments as part of planetary remote sensing payloads. However, since the launch of Diviner to the Moon in 2009, OSIRIS-Rex to the asteroid Bennu in 2016, and the planned launch of BepiColombo to Mercury in 2018, there is now a large quantity of TIR remote sensing data that need to be interpreted. It is therefore important to extend laboratory phase function measurements to the TIR. This paper describes the design, build, calibration, and initial measurements from a new laboratory instrument that is able to make phase function measurements of analog planetary regoliths across wavelengths from the visible to the TIR.