Fueled by the pioneering work by researchers (including Robert Hazen of Carnegie) roughly 50 years ago, reflectance spectroscopy has grown to be a powerful tool for understanding the thermal evolution of planets and moons in our solar system. With the lunar samples returned by the Apollo and Luna missions to provide ground-truth for telescopic, and subsequently orbital missions, we have been able to map and understand the evolution of planets and moons throughout the solar system. In this talk, Dr. Klima will discuss some of the recent discoveries fueled by reflectance spectroscopy of the Moon and Mercury, and also preview some of the questions that will be addressed spectroscopically by the Europa Clipper mission. In particular, Klima will focus on observations and questions concerning the origin and distribution of OH/H2O on the Moon, the hypothesis of a carbon (or carbon-rich) primary flotation crust on Mercury, and surface-to-ocean communication on Europa. Dr. Klima will also discuss ongoing and necessary laboratory measurements that would help better constrain many of the questions that have been raised by recent missions.
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