Seeing below the surface of Mars

美国宇航局信使号航天器为期四年的轨道任务将于2015年3月结束。为了准备将于2016年发射的欧洲水星轨道器（BepiColombo），信使号和BepiColombo团队正在协调努力，利用信使号提供的最佳数据绘制整个水星的地质图。这些地图将为规划和解释BepiColombo数据提供非常重要的背景信息，并将取代使用Mariner-10数据获得的1:50 m比例尺的部分地图覆盖范围。水星被划分为15个测绘“四边形”（每个极点都有一个），这个项目的学生将在监督小组的指导下负责绘制其中一个“四边形”的地质图。各个小组之间的四合院的分配正在谈判中，到初夏应该会有结果。然而，每个四合院都有广泛的特征和漫长而复杂的地质历史，这使它成为一个令人兴奋的研究区域。该学生将在ArcGIS中使用MESSENGER窄角和广角相机图像，并辅以地形、光谱和地球化学数据，所有这些数据都将从NASA的行星数据系统（pds.nasa.gov）获得，并将与同事协调绘制邻近的四边形。测绘将遵循美国地质调查局的协议和信使-比皮可伦坡联合地质测绘小组商定的公约，地图将通过美国地质勘探局出版。在线数字出版有助于包含多层，因此（例如）新一代地图可以有一个年代地层版本（按年龄划分的表面单位，如光滑平原，陨石坑间平原等）和一个更创新的岩石地层版本（例如将平原细分为光谱/地球化学类型）。水星的构造很复杂，因此需要对孤立的和连接的断层系统进行仔细的观察。虽然这项研究的主要成果将是一张完整的四边形地图，但通过仔细观察水星的任何部分而获得的深入洞察，将为衍生科学提供大量机会。例如，根据学生的兴趣，这些学科可以是地球化学、地貌学、构造学，与空间风化有关，或与挥发过程有关。我们希望学生在诸如年度月球与行星科学会议（休斯顿）和欧洲行星科学会议等会议上发表研究成果，并提交论文在同行评审的期刊上发表。导师将对学生进行ArcGIS和行星地质制图方面的培训，除此之外，学生还将有机会参加在欧洲和/或美国举行的MESSENGER-BepiColombo制图讲习班。有地球地质制图经验者优先。

The four-year orbital mission of NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will end in March 2015. In preparation for Europe's Mercury orbiter (BepiColombo), which will be launched in 2016, a co-ordinated effort is being mounted by the MESSENGER and BepiColombo teams to produce geological maps of the whole of Mercury using the best MESSENGER data available. The maps will provide very important contextual information for planning and interpreting BepiColombo data, and will replace the partial map coverage at 1:5M scale achieved using Mariner-10 data.Mercury is divided into 15 mapping 'quadrangles' (including one at each pole), and the student on this project will be responsible for creating a geological map of one of these under the guidance of the supervision team. The allocation of quadrangles between groups is being negotiated and should become clear by early summer. However, every quadrangle has a wide range of features and a long and complex geological history making it an exciting region to study.The student will compile a geological map in ArcGIS using MESSENGER narrow- and wide-angle-camera images supplemented by topographic, spectral and geochemical data, all of which will be available from NASA's Planetary Data System (pds.nasa.gov), and will co-ordinate with colleagues mapping adjacent quadrangles. Mapping will follow United States Geological Survey protocols and conventions agreed among the joint MESSENGER-BepiColombo geological mapping team, and the map will be published via USGS. Online digital publication facilitates the inclusion of multiple layers, so that (for example) this new generation of maps could have a chronostratigraphic version (surface units divided by age, such as smooth plains, intercrater plains, and so on) and a more innovative lithostratigraphic version (for example subdividing plains into spectral/geochemical types). Mercury is tectonically complex, and so the systems of isolated and linked faults will require careful attention.Although a thorough quadrangle map will be the main product of this study, the intimate insight gained by close examination of any part of Mercury will offer plenty of opportunities for spin-off science. These could, for example, be geochemical, geomorphological, tectonic, related to space-weathering, or related to volatile processes, according to the student's interests. We would expect the student to present findings at meetings such as the annual Lunar & Planetary Science Conference (Houston) and the European Planetary Science Conference, and also to submit papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals.The supervisors will train the student in ArcGIS and planetary geological mapping, in addition to which there will be opportunities to attend MESSENGER-BepiColombo mapping workshops in Europe and/or the USA. Experience of geological mapping in Earth would be an advantage.