J. Schmidt

TL;DR: It is shown that a power-law size distribution with large-size cutoff, as observed in Saturn’s rings, is universal for systems where a balance between aggregation and disruptive collisions is steadily sustained and expected for any ring system where collisions play a role.

TL;DR: The Explorer of Enceladus and Titan (E2T) mission as discussed by the authors was proposed as a medium-class mission led by ESA in collaboration with NASA in response to the M5 Cosmic Vision Call.

TL;DR: The German cosmic dust analyser (CDA) was developed under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg under the support of the DLR e.V..

TL;DR: In recent decades, volcanic and cryovolcanic activity on moons within the Solar System has been recognized as an important source of cosmic dust as discussed by the authors, and two moons, Io and Enceladus, are known to be actively emitting dust into circumplanetary and interplanetary space.

TL;DR: It is shown that a long-term plan for the space exploration of ice giants and their systems will greatly contribute to answer these questions, and an optimized choice of platforms and flight sequences makes it possible to address a broad range of the key science questions.