Bulk chemical composition is a fundamental property of a planetary material, rock or regolith, and can be used to constrain the properties and history of a material, and by extension its parent body, including its potential for habitability. Here, we investigate how uncertainties in bulk major element analyses can affect inferences derived from those analyses, including rock classification by total-alkalis–silica (TAS); Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA); a tectonic discriminant for magma genesis; and the inferred mantle pressure and temperature of a basaltic magma’s origin. Uncertainties for actual spacecraft instruments (Mars Exploration Rover and Mars Science Laboratory (MER/MSL), Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectroscopy (APXS), and Mars Science Laboratory: Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (MSL LIBS)) and a suggested uncertainty level for analyses on Venus (Venus Exploration Targets (VExT) Workshop) are higher than those of standard Earth-based analyses (e.g., by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICPOES)). We propagate the uncertainties from each analysis type to the derived parameters, both implicitly and via boot-strap (Monte Carlo) methods. Our calculations show that the uncertainties of APXS and VExT are greater than those for ICPOES, but they still allow useful inferences about rock type and history. Our results show that the uncertainties of MSL LIBS analyses are significantly larger than the other techniques, and can provide only limited constraints on rock types or histories. Any instruments chosen for future mission must have uncertainties of the chemical analyses small enough to meet the mission’s overall scientific objectives.

散装化学成分是行星材料，岩石或辉长岩的基本属性，可用于约束材料的属性和历史，并通过扩展其母体（包括其可居住性的潜力）来约束。在这里，我们研究了散装主要元素分析中的不确定性如何影响从这些分析得出的推论，包括按总碱度-二氧化硅（TAS）分类的岩石。化学变化指数（CIA）；岩浆成因的构造判别；并推断出玄武岩浆起源的地幔压力和温度。实际航天器仪器（火星探测漫游者和火星科学实验室（MER / MSL），阿尔法质子X射线能谱（APXS）和火星科学实验室的不确定性：激光诱导击穿光谱法（MSL LIBS）和建议在金星上进行分析的不确定度水平（金星探测目标（VExT）讲习班）高于标准的基于地球的分析（例如，通过电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法（ICPOES） ））。我们隐式地和通过引导（Monte Carlo）方法将不确定性从每种分析类型传播到派生参数。我们的计算表明，APXS和VExT的不确定性大于ICPOES的不确定性，但它们仍可以对岩石类型和历史做出有用的推论。我们的结果表明，MSL LIBS分析的不确定性比其他技术要大得多，并且只能对岩石类型或历史提供有限的约束。