Laboratory measurements of anhydrous minerals mixed with hyperfine hydrated minerals to support interpretation of infrared reflectance observations of planetary surfaces

Identification of water in our Solar System is a key point to understanding the formation and evolution of planetary bodies as well as for astrobiological studies. Scientists identified hydrated minerals as a prime source of H2O in our Solar System. Minerals such as clays, serpentines and other phyllosilicates were discovered by orbiter and lander spacecraft and ground observations on a large variety of rocky surfaces from Mars to small asteroids using InfraRed (IR) spectroscopy as primary technique. It has already been observed that in the presence of large amounts of hydrated minerals in mixtures with anhydrous minerals, the IR spectra can be dominated by the features of hydrated minerals. However, it is still poorly studied how the IR spectra change in presence of different grain size of the two components.