Laboratory simulation and characterization of ices. Application to Mercury, the Moon and Mars.

From Mercury to the trans-Neptunian objects, ice is present all along the Solar System. In order to interpret data collected by remote- sensing instruments of icy surfaces, laboratory studies are key. For that reason we have developed during the last six years the Laboratory for Outflow Studies of Sublimating icy materials (LOSSy) at the University of Bern. We have designed instrumentation, machines and protocols in order to create cm-sized icy samples in a reproducible way and to characterize them in the VIS-NIR spectral range. The focus lies on the bidirectional reflectance over a wide range of geometries and the hyperspectral imaging of sample in low-temperature and pressure conditions. We will present applications of our work in topics such as the presence of ice in permanently shadowed craters in Mercury and the Moon, as well as in the detection and characterization of frost on the surface of Mars.