Research - GEODES Laboratory - Université de Sherbrooke

Watch Myriam Lemelin’s interview on the use of geomatics in space exploration missions.

Mission

Myriam Lemelin is the Canada Research Chair in Northern and Planetary Geological Remote Sensing since 2019. The main objectives of this Chair are to develop innovative approaches in geological remote sensing and geomatics, and to apply them to remote sensing of lunar, Martian and terrestrial surfaces in Northern Canada. Studies conducted under the research chair include data and image processing in the Applied Geomatics Laboratory, geological sample analysis in the Spectroscopy Laboratory (and other external laboratories), and fieldwork.

[Translate to English:] LPSC 2024 — GEODES Laboratory members at the 2024 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas.

[Translate to English:] Myriam Lemelin avec VIPER — Myriam Lemelin with the VIPER rover model, NASA Ames, California.

Research themes

Research focus: Moon

Professor Lemelin is actively involved in the new era of lunar exploration. The 27 member space agencies of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), including the Canadian Space Agency and NASA, are aiming for long-term robotic and human exploration of the lunar surface in preparation for Mars exploration. During the Artemis missions, NASA plans to land the first woman and the first person of color near the lunar South Pole. NASA is collaborating with commercial and international partners to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon and to leverage the knowledge gained to send the first astronauts to Mars. Professor Lemelin and her team's work aims to characterize the lunar surface using orbital remote sensing data to support future exploration missions. They are also preparing to analyze remote sensing images acquired from the lunar surface by rovers. Professor Lemelin is a co-investigator for three upcoming lunar exploration robotic missions: Lunar Vertex (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory), VIPER (NASA), and the first Canadian rover to explore the moon (Canadian Space Agency).

[Translate to English:] T-MARS — This project aims to study the composition of gossans in the Canadian Arctic as analogues to potentially similar geological formations on Mars.

[Translate to English:] T-Mars Articque — The T-MARS team (Terrestrial Mineral Analysis by Remote Sensing) in Nunavut for sample collection.

Research focus: Mars

Professor Lemelin is also interested in the search for signs of life on Mars. The T-MARS project, for example, has allowed several students from the GEODES Laboratory to study geological formations (gossans) analogous to those that might be found on Mars. It is believed that these geological formations could exist on the Red Planet, may have harbored life in the past, and could today preserve traces of this past life, known as "biosignatures." The T-MATRS project included the development of innovative geological remote sensing approaches to detect gossans from satellite images, the execution of two field campaigns in the Canadian Arctic to collect geological samples, and the analysis of these samples in the laboratory. This project has enhanced knowledge related to these geological formations on Earth and will better guide the search for these formations on Mars.