NASA Decommissions Mineral Mapping Instrument on Mars Orbiter

NASA has switched off one of its oldest instruments studying Mars, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The instrument produced high-resolution mineral maps crucial in helping scientists understand how lakes, streams, and groundwater shaped the planet billions of years ago. CRISM revealed minerals such as clays, hematite, and sulfates across the Red Planet’s surface for 17 years. The instrument’s two detectors saw in visible and infrared light, spotting the chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of minerals that form in the presence of water.

Courtesy of Nasa