PAJOLA, MAURIZIOMAURIZIOPAJOLARoush, T. L.T. L.RoushMarzo, G. A.G. A.MarzoSIMIONI, EMANUELEEMANUELESIMIONI2020-06-162020-06-162016http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/26077Whether Phobos is a captured asteroid or it formed in situ around Mars, is still an outstanding question within the scientific community. The proposed Japanese Mars Moon eXploration (MMX) sample return mission has the chief scientific objective to solve this conundrum, reaching Phobos in early 2020s and returning Phobos samples to Earth few years later. Nonetheless, well before surface samples are returned to Earth, there are important spectral datasets that can be mined in order to constrain Phobos' surface properties and address implications regarding Phobos' origin. One of these is the MRO-CRISM multispectral observations of Phobos. The MRO-CRISM visible and infrared observations (0.4-2.5 micron) are here corrected for incidence and emission angles of the observation. Unlike previous studies of the MRO-CRISM data that selected specific regions for analyses, we apply a statistical technique that identifies different clusters based on a K-means partitioning algorithm. Selecting specific wavelength ranges of Phobos' reflectance spectra permits identification of possible mineralogical compounds and the spatial distribution of these on the surface of Phobos. This work paves the way to a deeper analysis of the available dataset regarding Phobos, potentially identifying regions of interest on the surface of Phobos that may warrant more detailed investigation by the MXX mission as potential sampling areas. Acknowledgments: M. Pajola was supported for this research by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Ames Research Center administered by USRA.ELETTRONICOenConference abstracthttps://agu.confex.com/agu/fm16/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1515252016AGUFM.P53C2221PFIS/05 - ASTRONOMIA E ASTROFISICA