scholarly journals Determining the origin of the building blocks of the Ice Giants based on analogue measurements from comets

2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (1) ◽  
pp. 488-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
K E Mandt ◽  
O Mousis ◽  
S Treat
Keyword(s):  
Noble Gas ◽  
Giant Planet ◽  
Solid Material ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Isotopic Ratios ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Formation Conditions ◽  
Comet 67P

ABSTRACT The abundances of the heavy elements and isotopic ratios in the present atmospheres of the giant planets can be used to trace the composition of volatiles that were present in the icy solid material that contributed to their formation. The first definitive measurements of noble gas abundances and isotope ratios at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P/C–G) were recently published by Marty et al. (2017) and Rubin et al. (2018, 2019). The implications of these abundances for the formation conditions of the 67P/C–G building blocks were then evaluated by Mousis et al. (2018a). We add here an analysis of the implications of these results for understanding the formation conditions of the building blocks of the Ice Giants and discuss how future measurements of Ice Giant atmospheric composition can be interpreted. We first evaluate the best approach for comparing comet observations with giant planet composition, and then determine what would be the current composition of the Ice Giant atmospheres based on four potential sources for their building blocks. We provide four scenarios for the origin of the Ice Giants building blocks based on four primary constraints for building block composition: (1) the bulk abundance of carbon relative to nitrogen, (2) noble gas abundances relative to carbon and nitrogen, (3) abundance ratios Kr/Ar and Xe/Ar, and (4) Xe isotopic ratios. In situ measurements of these quantities by a Galileo-like entry probe in the atmosphere(s) of Uranus and/or Neptune should place important constraints on the formation conditions of the Ice Giants.

Tracing the Origins of the Ice Giants through Noble Gas Isotopic Composition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Mandt ◽  
Olivier Mousis ◽  
Jonathan Lunine ◽  
Bernard Marty ◽  
Thomas Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Heavy Element ◽  
Noble Gas ◽  
Giant Planet ◽  
Isotope Ratios ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Element Abundances ◽  
Current State

<p>The current composition of giant planet atmospheres provides information on how such planets formed, and on the origin of the solid building blocks that contributed to their formation. Noble gas abundances and their isotope ratios are among the most valuable pieces of evidence for tracing the origin of the materials from which the giant planets formed. In this review we first outline the current state of knowledge for heavy element abundances in the giant planets and explain what is currently understood about the reservoirs of icy building blocks that could have contributed to the formation of the Ice Giants. We then outline how noble gas isotope ratios have provided details on the original sources of noble gases in various materials throughout the solar system. We follow this with a discussion on how noble gases are trapped in ice and rock that later became the building blocks for the giant planets and how the heavy element abundances could have been locally enriched in the protosolar nebula. We then provide a review of the current state of knowledge of noble gas abundances and isotope ratios in various solar system reservoirs, and discuss measurements needed to understand the origin of the ice giants. Finally, we outline how formation and interior evolution will influence the noble gas abundances and isotope ratios observed in the ice giants today. Measurements that a future atmospheric probe will need to make include (1) the <sup>3</sup>He/<sup>4</sup>He isotope ratio to help constrain the protosolar D/H and <sup>3</sup>He/<sup>4</sup>He; (2) the <sup>20</sup>Ne/<sup>22</sup>Ne and <sup>21</sup>Ne/<sup>22</sup>Ne to separate primordial noble gas reservoirs similar to the approach used in studying meteorites; (3) the Kr/Ar and Xe/Ar to determine if the building blocks were Jupiter-like or similar to 67P/C-G and Chondrites; (4) the krypton isotope ratios for the first giant planet observations of these isotopes; and (5) the xenon isotopes for comparison with the wide range of values represented by solar system reservoirs.</p><p>Mandt, K. E., Mousis, O., Lunine, J., Marty, B., Smith, T., Luspay-Kuti, A., & Aguichine, A. (2020). Tracing the origins of the ice giants through noble gas isotopic composition. Space Science Reviews, 216(5), 1-37.</p>

scholarly journals The chemical connection between 67P/C-G and IRAS 16293-2422

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S332) ◽  
pp. 196-201
Author(s):  
Maria Nikolayevna Drozdovskaya ◽  
Ewine F. van Dishoeck ◽  
Martin Rubin ◽  
Jes Kristian Jørgensen ◽  
Kathrin Altwegg
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Chemical Evolution ◽  
Protoplanetary Disks ◽  
In Situ Measurements ◽  
Isotopic Ratios ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Comet 67P

AbstractThe chemical evolution of a star- and planet-forming system begins in the prestellar phase and proceeds across the subsequent evolutionary phases. The chemical trail from cores to protoplanetary disks to planetary embryos can be studied by comparing distant young protostars and comets in our Solar System. One particularly chemically rich system that is thought to be analogous to our own is the low-mass IRAS 16293-2422. ALMA-PILS observations have made the study of chemistry on the disk scales (<100 AU) of this system possible. Under the assumption that comets are pristine tracers of the outer parts of the innate protosolar disk, it is possible to compare the composition of our infant Solar System to that of IRAS 16293-2422. The Rosetta mission has yielded a wealth of unique in situ measurements on comet 67P/C-G, making it the best probe to date. Herein, the initial comparisons in terms of the chemical composition and isotopic ratios are summarized. Much work is still to be carried out in the future as the analysis of both of these data sets is still ongoing.

scholarly journals Ingredients for solar-like systems: protostar IRAS 16293-2422 B versus comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria N Drozdovskaya ◽  
Ewine F van Dishoeck ◽  
Martin Rubin ◽  
Jes K Jørgensen ◽  
Kathrin Altwegg
Keyword(s):  
Bulk Composition ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
In Situ Monitoring ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Line Survey ◽  
First Time ◽  
Comet 67P

ABSTRACT Our modern day Solar System has 4.6 × 109 yr of evolution behind it with just a few relics of its birth conditions remaining. Comets are thought to be some of the most pristine tracers of the initial ingredients that were combined to produce the Earth and the other planets. Other low-mass protostars may be analogous to our proto-Sun and hence, could be used to study the building blocks necessary to form Solar-like systems. This study tests this idea on the basis of new high sensitivity, high spatial resolution ALMA data on the protoplanetary disc-scales (∼70 au) of IRAS 16293-2422 and the bulk composition of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as determined for the first time with the unique in situ monitoring carried out by Rosetta. The comparative analysis of the observations from the Protostellar Interferometric Line Survey (PILS) and the measurements made with Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) shows that the relative abundances of CHO-, N-, and S-bearing molecules correlate, with some scatter, between protostellar and cometary data. A tentative correlation is seen for the first time for P- and Cl-bearing compounds. The results imply that the volatile composition of cometesimals and planetesimals is partially inherited from the pre- and protostellar phases of evolution.

scholarly journals Reviewing Martian Atmospheric Noble Gas Measurements: From Martian Meteorites to Mars Missions

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 439
Author(s):  
Thomas Smith ◽  
P. M. Ranjith ◽  
Huaiyu He ◽  
Rixiang Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Noble Gases ◽  
Noble Gas ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Chemical Inertness ◽  
Martian Meteorites ◽  
High Concern ◽  
Atmospheric Dynamic ◽  
Gas Measurements

Martian meteorites are the only samples from Mars available for extensive studies in laboratories on Earth. Among the various unresolved science questions, the question of the Martian atmospheric composition, distribution, and evolution over geological time still is of high concern for the scientific community. Recent successful space missions to Mars have particularly strengthened our understanding of the loss of the primary Martian atmosphere. Noble gases are commonly used in geochemistry and cosmochemistry as tools to better unravel the properties or exchange mechanisms associated with different isotopic reservoirs in the Earth or in different planetary bodies. The relatively low abundance and chemical inertness of noble gases enable their distributions and, consequently, transfer mechanisms to be determined. In this review, we first summarize the various in situ and laboratory techniques on Mars and in Martian meteorites, respectively, for measuring noble gas abundances and isotopic ratios. In the second part, we concentrate on the results obtained by both in situ and laboratory measurements, their complementarity, and the implications for the Martian atmospheric dynamic evolution through the last billions of years. Here, we intend on demonstrating how the various efforts established the Mars-Martian meteorites connection and its significance to our understanding of the red planet.

Laboratory and in-situ analysis of comet dust

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 8-9
Author(s):  
D.E. Brownlee ◽  
A.L. Albee
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Laboratory Study ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Sem Analysis ◽  
Early Solar System ◽  
Cometary Material ◽  
Comet Dust

Comets are primitive, kilometer-sized bodies that formed in the outer regions of the solar system. Composed of ice and dust, comets are generally believed to be relic building blocks of the outer solar system that have been preserved at cryogenic temperatures since the formation of the Sun and planets. The analysis of cometary material is particularly important because the properties of cometary material provide direct information on the processes and environments that formed and influenced solid matter both in the early solar system and in the interstellar environments that preceded it.The first direct analyses of proven comet dust were made during the Soviet and European spacecraft encounters with Comet Halley in 1986. These missions carried time-of-flight mass spectrometers that measured mass spectra of individual micron and smaller particles. The Halley measurements were semi-quantitative but they showed that comet dust is a complex fine-grained mixture of silicates and organic material. A full understanding of comet dust will require detailed morphological, mineralogical, elemental and isotopic analysis at the finest possible scale. Electron microscopy and related microbeam techniques will play key roles in the analysis. The present and future of electron microscopy of comet samples involves laboratory study of micrometeorites collected in the stratosphere, in-situ SEM analysis of particles collected at a comet and laboratory study of samples collected from a comet and returned to the Earth for detailed study.

scholarly journals AMBITION – comet nucleus cryogenic sample return

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Bockelée-Morvan ◽  
Gianrico Filacchione ◽  
Kathrin Altwegg ◽  
Eleonora Bianchi ◽  
Martin Bizzarro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Giant Planet ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Cometary Nucleus ◽  
Comet Nucleus ◽  
Surface Layers ◽  
International Context ◽  
Rosetta Mission ◽  
Nucleus Surface ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Scientific Questions

AbstractWe describe the AMBITION project, a mission to return the first-ever cryogenically-stored sample of a cometary nucleus, that has been proposed for the ESA Science Programme Voyage 2050. Comets are the leftover building blocks of giant planet cores and other planetary bodies, and fingerprints of Solar System’s formation processes. We summarise some of the most important questions still open in cometary science and Solar System formation after the successful Rosetta mission. We show that many of these scientific questions require sample analysis using techniques that are only possible in laboratories on Earth. We summarize measurements, instrumentation and mission scenarios that can address these questions. We emphasize the need for returning a sample collected at depth or, still more challenging, at cryogenic temperatures while preserving the stratigraphy of the comet nucleus surface layers. We provide requirements for the next generation of landers, for cryogenic sample acquisition and storage during the return to Earth. Rendezvous missions to the main belt comets and Centaurs, expanding our knowledge by exploring new classes of comets, are also discussed. The AMBITION project is discussed in the international context of comet and asteroid space exploration.

scholarly journals Exploring Cu/Al cluster growth and reactivity: from embryonic building blocks to intermetalloid, open-shell superatoms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Schütz ◽  
Christian Gemel ◽  
Maximilian Muhr ◽  
Christian Jandl ◽  
Samia Kahlal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Closed Shell ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Open Shell ◽  
Cluster Growth ◽  
Powerful Technique

Cu/Al cluster growth reactions leading to open- and closed-shell superatoms are investigated. Therein, LIFDI-MS is presented as a powerful technique for the in situ detection of cluster identities and reactivity patterns.

scholarly journals In Situ exploration of the giant planets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Mousis ◽  
D. H. Atkinson ◽  
R. Ambrosi ◽  
S. Atreya ◽  
D. Banfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Giant Planets ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Formation History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Composition Structure ◽  
Galileo Probe ◽  
Probe Measurements

AbstractRemote sensing observations suffer significant limitations when used to study the bulk atmospheric composition of the giant planets of our Solar System. This impacts our knowledge of the formation of these planets and the physics of their atmospheres. A remarkable example of the superiority of in situ probe measurements was illustrated by the exploration of Jupiter, where key measurements such as the determination of the noble gases’ abundances and the precise measurement of the helium mixing ratio were only made available through in situ measurements by the Galileo probe. Here we describe the main scientific goals to be addressed by the future in situ exploration of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, placing the Galileo probe exploration of Jupiter in a broader context. An atmospheric entry probe targeting the 10-bar level would yield insight into two broad themes: i) the formation history of the giant planets and that of the Solar System, and ii) the processes at play in planetary atmospheres. The probe would descend under parachute to measure composition, structure, and dynamics, with data returned to Earth using a Carrier Relay Spacecraft as a relay station. An atmospheric probe could represent a significant ESA contribution to a future NASA New Frontiers or flagship mission to be launched toward Saturn, Uranus, and/or Neptune.

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