juliensimon/mars-chemcam-compositions

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "Mars ChemCam LIBS Oxide Compositions"
language:
- en
description: "Major oxide compositions of Mars surface targets analyzed by the ChemCam LIBS instrument on the Curiosity rover, from the PDS Geosciences Node."
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
- tabular-regression
tags:
- space
- mars
- curiosity
- chemcam
- geochemistry
- nasa
- planetary-science
- open-data
- tabular-data
size_categories:
- 1K<n<10K
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/mars_chemcam_compositions.parquet
default: true
---

# Mars ChemCam LIBS Oxide Compositions

*Part of the [Planetary Science Datasets](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/planetary-science-datasets-68228b04b65e1f3b9e57a76b) collection on Hugging Face.*

Major oxide compositions of Mars surface rock and soil targets analyzed by the
Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)
instrument aboard the Curiosity rover. Currently **30,458** individual
point analyses across **4,184** named targets, spanning sols
**0** to **4612**.

## Dataset description

ChemCam fires a focused laser pulse at rock and soil targets up to ~7 meters
away, creating a plasma whose emission spectrum reveals elemental composition.
The Major Oxide Compositions (MOC) data product provides predicted weight
percentages for nine major oxides (SiO2, TiO2, Al2O3, FeOT, MgO, CaO,
Na2O, K2O, MnO) derived from the LIBS spectra using a combined PLS+ICA
multivariate model.

Each row represents a single LIBS analysis point. Multiple points are
typically measured per target to characterize compositional variability.
Uncertainty estimates (RMSEP and shot-to-shot standard deviation) are
provided for each oxide.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `file` | string | Source spectrum filename |
| `target` | string | Named target on the Martian surface |
| `sio2` | float64 | Silicon dioxide (wt%) |
| `sio2_rmsep` | float64 | SiO2 RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `sio2_shots_stdev` | float64 | SiO2 shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `tio2` | float64 | Titanium dioxide (wt%) |
| `tio2_rmsep` | float64 | TiO2 RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `tio2_shots_stdev` | float64 | TiO2 shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `al2o3` | float64 | Aluminum oxide (wt%) |
| `al2o3_rmsep` | float64 | Al2O3 RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `al2o3_shots_stdev` | float64 | Al2O3 shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `feot` | float64 | Total iron as FeO (wt%) |
| `feot_rmsep` | float64 | FeOT RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `feot_shots_stdev` | float64 | FeOT shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `mgo` | float64 | Magnesium oxide (wt%) |
| `mgo_rmsep` | float64 | MgO RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `mgo_shots_stdev` | float64 | MgO shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `cao` | float64 | Calcium oxide (wt%) |
| `cao_rmsep` | float64 | CaO RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `cao_shots_stdev` | float64 | CaO shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `na2o` | float64 | Sodium oxide (wt%) |
| `na2o_rmsep` | float64 | Na2O RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `na2o_shots_stdev` | float64 | Na2O shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `k2o` | float64 | Potassium oxide (wt%) |
| `k2o_rmsep` | float64 | K2O RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `k2o_shots_stdev` | float64 | K2O shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `mno` | float64 | Manganese oxide (wt%) |
| `mno_rmsep` | float64 | MnO RMSEP uncertainty from calibration model |
| `mno_shots_stdev` | float64 | MnO shot-to-shot standard deviation |
| `sum_of_oxides` | float64 | Sum of all oxide compositions (wt%) |
| `distance_m` | float64 | Distance from rover to target (meters) |
| `laser_power` | string | Laser power settings |
| `spectrum_total` | string | Total spectrum intensity |
| `sol_range_min` | int64 | Start of sol range for this data file |
| `sol_range_max` | int64 | End of sol range for this data file |

## Quick stats

- **30,458** LIBS point analyses across **4,184** targets
- Sols **0** to **4612** of Curiosity's traverse
- Mean SiO2: **47.6 wt%** | Mean FeOT: **18.0 wt%**

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/mars-chemcam-compositions", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Average oxide composition per target
target_avg = df.groupby("target")[
["sio2", "tio2", "al2o3", "feot", "mgo", "cao", "na2o", "k2o"]
].mean()

# High-silica targets (possible felsic rocks)
felsic = target_avg[target_avg["sio2"] > 60].sort_values("sio2", ascending=False)

# Iron-rich targets
iron_rich = df[df["feot"] > 25].sort_values("feot", ascending=False)

# Composition variability within a single target
target_std = df.groupby("target")[["sio2", "feot", "mgo"]].std()
```

## Data source

[PDS Geosciences Node — MSL ChemCam LIBS RDR](https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/msl/msl-m-chemcam-libs-4_5-rdr-v1/mslccm_1xxx/data/moc/),
Washington University in St. Louis. Major Oxide Compositions (MOC) derived
using the combined PLS+ICA multivariate model (sPDL Tool v2.5).

## Related datasets

- [mars-craters](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/mars-craters) — Robbins Mars crater catalog
- [neo-close-approaches](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/neo-close-approaches) — Near-Earth object approaches
- [small-body-database](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/small-body-database) — JPL small body orbital parameters

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{mars_chemcam_compositions,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {Mars ChemCam LIBS Oxide Compositions},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/mars-chemcam-compositions},
note = {Based on MSL ChemCam LIBS MOC data from the PDS Geosciences Node}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)