Showing papers in "Planetary and Space Science in 2010"

TL;DR: BepiColombo as mentioned in this paper is an interdisciplinary mission to explore Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, carried out jointly between the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

TL;DR: The Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) on the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) as mentioned in this paper is a two-component instrument.

TL;DR: Lava tubes and basaltic caves are common features in volcanic terrains on Earth and have been identified on Mars based on orbital imagery and remote-sensing data as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: The Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) is an innovative instrument for studying the surface composition and mineralogy of the planet Mercury.

TL;DR: In this paper, a Monte-Carlo model of exospheres was extended by treating the ion-induced sputtering process, photon-stimulated desorption, and micro-meteorite impact vaporization quantitatively in a self-consistent way starting with the actual release of particles from the mineral surface of Mercury.

TL;DR: An integrated suite of instruments, Spectrometer and Imagers for MPO BepiColombo-Integrated Observatory SYStem (SIMBIO-SYS), which includes a stereo imaging system (STC), a high-resolution imager (HRIC) and a visible-near-infrared imaging spectrometer (VIHI), has been selected for the ESA BepIColombo mission to Mercury as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the role that variable material properties of the host lithology plays in the final form of a yardang in the Central Andes of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the variability of the ambient magnetic field near Titan during Cassini encounters TA-T62 (October 2004, T62) and showed that the moon's magnetic environment is strongly affected by its proximity to the warped and highly dynamic magnetodisk.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe in-flight calibration of the Cassini Imaging Science Sub-system narrow-and wide-angle cameras using data from 2004 to 2009, including the use of polarization filters, point spread functions over a dynamic range greater than 10 7, gain and loss of hot pixels, changes in flat fields, and an analysis of charge transfer efficiency.

TL;DR: This review presents fundamentals of the two major CH 4 -producing pathways with a focus on understanding the potential for biologically-produced CH 4 on Mars.

TL;DR: The magnetometer (MAG) on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) of the joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission to planet Mercury is a low-noise, tri-axial, dual-sensor, digital fluxgate instrument with its sensors mounted on a 2.8m-long boom as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this paper, artificial neural networks were used for material identification based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) spectra that may be obtained with a portable instrument in ambient conditions.

TL;DR: In this article, Chandra's Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) payload, onboard the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of Chandrayaan I mission vindicates the presence of water on the surface of the moon in form of ice at higher lunar latitudes inferred from IR absorption spectroscopy, (especially that of OH), by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3 ) of Chandraaan I.

TL;DR: Probing of Hermean exosphere by ultraviolet spectroscopy (PHEBUS) is a double spectrometer for the Extreme Ultraviolet range (55-155 nm) and the Far Ultraviolet (145-315 nm) devoted to the characterization of Mercury's exosphere composition and dynamics, and surface-exosphere connections as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: In this article, the transterminator flow of O+ and O2+ ions with a super-sonic velocity of around 5 km/s and fluxes of 0.8×109/cm2 s was observed on the tail side of Mars.

TL;DR: In this article, compositional evidence shows the upstream flow for both T9 and T18 appears composed of light ions (H+ and H2+), with external pressures approx.30 times lower than that for the earlier TA flyby where heavy ions dominated the magnetospheric plasma.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the potential organisms for space in-situ resource use, which have been suggested for applications, such as oxygen, fuel and biomass production, nutrient acquisition, and feedstock provisions.

TL;DR: The MGNS is capable of measuring the elemental composition of the shallow subsurface, providing a sensitive tool to discriminate between a number of proposed models for Mercury's origin this paper.

TL;DR: The SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) (SERENA) is an instrument package that will fly on board the BepiColombo/Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) to investigate the complex particle environment that is composed of thermal and directional neutral atoms (exosphere) caused by surface release and charge exchange processes, and of ionized particles caused by photo-ionization of neutrals as well by charge exchange and surface release processes as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: The International Outer Planets Watch (IOPW) as discussed by the authors is a database of images of the giant planets (primarily Jupiter and Saturn but with increasing contributions of Uranus and Neptune too).

TL;DR: The BepiColombo Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) spacecraft includes the plasma and radio wave observation system called Plasma Wave Investigation (PWI) as mentioned in this paper, which provides the first opportunity for conducting in-situ and remote-sensing observations of electric fields, plasma waves, and radio waves in the Hermean magnetosphere and exosphere.

TL;DR: In this paper, the propagation of uncertainties carried by the reaction rate coefficients in the photochemistry of Neptune's stratosphere was studied, and it was shown that the uncertainties on the mole fractions of main hydrocarbons are equal to or larger than the estimated uncertainties on abundances gathered from observations.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed the Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) to investigate the plasma/particle environment around Mercury, which consists of seven sensors: two Mercury electron analyzers (MEA1 and MEA2), Mercury ion analyzer(MIA), Mercury mass spectrum analyzer (MSA), high-energy particle instrument for electron (HEP-ele), high energy particle experiment for ion, and energetic neutrals analyzer.

TL;DR: In this paper, a simple digital in-line holographic microscope (DIHM) was used to investigate the microbial life forms that exist in perennial springs and glacial melt-water pools on Axel Heiberg Island at near 80°N latitude in the Canadian High Arctic.

TL;DR: Ismenius Cavus is a basin where several fluvial valleys converge and three depositional fan deltas are observed at the valleys outlets at similar elevations.

TL;DR: The Italian Spring Accelerometer (ISA) as mentioned in this paper is a three-axis accelerometer devoted to the measurement of non-gravitational perturbations acting on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), whose knowledge is important in order to fully exploit the quality of the tracking data.

TL;DR: The cratering history of main belt asteroid (2867) Steins has been investigated using OSIRIS imagery acquired during the Rosetta flyby that took place on the 5th of September 2008.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the investigation of physical parameters that determine the retrieval accuracy of deep atmosphere and surface features of Venus including compositional conditions, continuum absorption effects, and spectroscopic input data required for radiative transfer simulations.

TL;DR: The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is believed to be an important means for the transfer of energy, plasma, and momentum from the solar wind into planetary magnetospheres, with in situ measurements as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: The 90 km diameter, late Triassic Manicouagan impact structure of Quebec, Canada, is a well-preserved, undeformed complex crater possessing an anorthositic central uplift and a 55 km diameter melt sheet as discussed by the authors.