User:Steve Quinn/OMEGA (visible spectrometer)

OMEGA the Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer on Mars express is "building up a map of surface composition in 100 metre squares. It will determine mineral composition from the visible and infrared light reflected from the planet's surface in the wavelength range 0.5-5.2 microns. As light reflected from the surface must pass through the atmosphere before entering the instrument, OMEGA will also measure aspects of atmospheric composition".

"We want to know the iron content of the surface, the water content of the rocks and clay minerals and the abundance of non-silicate materials such as carbonates and nitrates," says Jean-Pierre Bibring, OMEGA PI from the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France.

"Using the fact that different materials absorb and radiate light at different wavelengths, OMEGA will build up a map of surface composition by analysing sunlight that has been absorbed and re-emitted by the surface . Going beyond this general description to identify particular minerals or elements at particular points on the surface, has so far proved beyond the scope of remote-sensing instruments. None has yet flown with sufficient spatial resolution for the task. That will change, however, when Mars Express carries the Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer (OMEGA) into Martian orbit". .