BepiColombo SIMBIO-SYS data: Preliminary evaluation for rock discrimination and recognition in both low and high resolution spectroscopic data in the visible and near infrared spectral intervals

A stereo camera (STC) with panchromatic and 4 visible-near infrared (NIR) filters and a visible-near infrared hyperspectral imager (VIHI) with 400–2000 nm spectral range, integrated into the spectrometers and imagers for BepiColombo integrated observatory-system (SIMBIO-SYS) selected for BepiColombo, are dedicated to the geologic exploration of Mercurys surface. In this study the responses of the two sensors were simulated and degraded by the addition of random noise, with the purpose of evaluating their suitability to resolve the spectroscopic features diagnostic of rock forming minerals and discriminate among different lithotypes. Two cumulates (norite and anorthosite) from a Late Proterozoic layered intrusion and two basaltic lavas from Mount Etna complex were selected as possible terrestrial analogues of Mercury. Interband spectral reflectance ratios of STC noise-free data provided a first order discrimination among the different rock types. VIHI noise-free data compare well with laboratory reflectance data for the identification of the spectral features of the most important rock forming minerals. STC noisy spectra simulated for S/N=200 showed that, because of the low reflectance of the surface rocks, the band ratios of the different rocks can partly overlap, with some uncertainty in rock discrimination. VIHI noisy spectra simulated for S/N=100 indicated that for well defined spectral features with band depth 0.1 reflectance unit, the shift in band position corresponds to a variation of less than 0.03 atoms/formula unit of the spectrally active phases. Weaker bands have a high probability of being misidentified.