Martian surface Mensae contain thick glaciers covered by a mantle of rocky debris. Martian surface The study of surface characteristics (or surface properties and processes) is a broad category of Mars science that examines the nature of the materials making up the Martian surface. The study evolved from telescopic and remote-sensing techniques developed by astronomers to study planetary surfaces. However, it has increasingly become a subdiscipline of geology as automated spacecraft bring ever-improving resolution and instrument capabilities. By using characteristics such as color, albedo, and thermal inertia and analytical tools such as reflectance spectroscopy and radar, scientists are able to study the
Bond albedo phase angles from the Earth, the only reliable data for measuring their Bond albedo comes from spacecraft. The Bond albedo ("A") is related to the geometric albedo ("p") by the expression where "q" is termed the "phase integral" and is given in terms of the directional scattered flux "I"("α") into phase angle "α" (averaged over all wavelengths and azimuthal angles) as The phase angle "α" is the angle between the source of the radiation (usually the Sun) and the observing direction, and varies from zero for light scattered back towards the source, to 180° for observations looking towards the source.