Spectral studies of lunar akin Terrestrial rocks an approach to Lunar mineral mapping

Abstract

newlineOur current knowledge of planetary bodies largely depends on newlineremote sensing and rarely by sample investigation like return samples from newlinemoon Chandrayaan 1 the first Indian planetary exploration mission carried newlineout high resolution remote sensing studies of the moon for further newlineunderstanding of its origin and evolution The mission had hyperspectral newlineimaging instruments Hyperspectral Imager HySI and Moon Mineralogy newlineMapper MMM that operate in the UV VIS NIR region newlineHyperspectral remote sensing or imaging spectroscopy is an newlineemerging technique used to detect and identify rocks and minerals on the newlineplanetary surface This thesis presents the observations and results of an attempt to newlineunderstand the spectral signatures of lunar akin terrestrial rocks Rock newlinesamples were collected from various Indian locations including Sittampundi newlinefor anorthositic suite Prakasasm Province for anorthositic suite Chalk newlinehills Salem for dunite Lonar crater region for basalt and Sulagiri for newlinemeteorite Whole rock mineralogy geochemistry and reflectance spectral newlinestudies in 715 bands within the VNIR and SWIR region were carried out newlineThese parameters were compared with the lunar return samples newline newline