Investigating Hydrated Silicates and Organic Compounds on Asteroid 1999 JU3

Purpose

The purpose of this work is to do processing of the NIRS3 spectrometer data to create mineral maps of asteroid 1999 JU3. The NIRS3 instrument is a spectrometer on Hayabusa 2 spacecraft. Co-I Le Corre will implement mosaicking of the NIRS3 footprints and help PI Takir with the photometric correction. Le Corre will also help in the interpretation of maps created as part of this effort. Co-I Le Corre will assist PI Takir in the archiving of the data on the PDS small bodies node at the end of the project.

Scope

The proposed work will be carried out using data from the NIRS3 instrument on the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft. The NIRS3 data would be provided to PI Takir and Co-I Le Corre by the Japanese team as part of their agreement with NASA. Co-I Le Corre has extensive experience creating spectral maps: she has worked on several NASA and ESA missions including Cassini, Mars Express, Dawn, and Hayabusa. Data reduction will be accomplished in IDL using software package called SPICE, which is provided by JPL NAIF. The data reduction and map creation pipeline is based on similar works Co-I Le Corre has carried out for the NIRS instrument on Hayabusa mission to asteroid Itokawa. Co-I Le Corre will work closely with PI Takir (NASA) in the interpretation of the data. Co-I Le Corre will assist the PI in the preparation of manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals. She will also lead the archiving of the data on PDS Small Bodies Node including the resolution of liens arising from the review.