scholarly journals Ice giant system exploration in the 2020s: an introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2187) ◽  
pp. 20190473 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. N. Fletcher ◽  
A. A. Simon ◽  
M. D. Hofstadter ◽  
C. S. Arridge ◽  
Ian J. Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Planetary Science ◽  
Mission Design ◽  
Icy Satellites ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Planetary Interiors ◽  
International Partnership ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Major Class ◽  
Scientific Potential ◽  
Science Community

The international planetary science community met in London in January 2020, united in the goal of realizing the first dedicated robotic mission to the distant ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, as the only major class of solar system planet yet to be comprehensively explored. Ice-giant-sized worlds appear to be a common outcome of the planet formation process, and pose unique and extreme tests to our understanding of exotic water-rich planetary interiors, dynamic and frigid atmospheres, complex magnetospheric configurations, geologically-rich icy satellites (both natural and captured), and delicate planetary rings. This article introduces a special issue on ice giant system exploration at the start of the 2020s. We review the scientific potential and existing mission design concepts for an ambitious international partnership for exploring Uranus and/or Neptune in the coming decades. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Future exploration of ice giant systems’.

NASA Planetary Science and European Partnerships and Participations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Daou ◽  
Lori S. Glaze
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Solar Neighborhood ◽  
Science Division ◽  
International Partnership ◽  
Cosmic Vision ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Science Community ◽  
International Participation ◽  
Italian Space Agency

<p>NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) and space agencies around the world are collaborating on an extensive array of missions exploring our Solar System. Planetary science missions are conducted by some of the most sophisticated robots ever built and international collaboration is an essential part of what we do. NASA has always encouraged international participation on our missions both strategic (i.e., Mars 2020) and competitive (i.e., Discovery and New Frontiers) and other Space Agencies have reciprocated and invited us to participate in their missions.</p><p>More specifically, NASA has had a long and fruitful collaboration with ESA on their planetary missions. Currently, NASA is involved in the BepiColombo mission (1 instrument in the Italian Space Agency’s instrument suite), and the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer mission (one instrument and parts of two others). In concert with ESA’s Mars missions we have an instrument on the Mars Express mission, the orbit-ground communications package on the Trace Gas Orbiter (launched in 2016) and part of the DLR/Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer instruments going onboard the ExoMars Rover. Likewise, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover includes several international payload elements: Spain’s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA); Norway’s Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX); and the US SuperCam has a significant contribution from France.</p><p>In 2016, ESA released a call for proposals in their 5<sup>th</sup> Medium-sized mission class (referred to as M5) as part of their Cosmic Vision program. ESA once again has been tremendous in welcoming possible cooperative proposals with NASA as in the EnVision orbital mission to Venus. EnVision would perform high-resolution radar mapping and atmospheric studies of Venus.</p><p>International partnerships are an excellent, proven way of amplifying the scope and sharing the science results of a mission otherwise implemented by an individual space agency. Looking forward, NASA’s Planetary Science Division is initiating the next Decadal Survey, led by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Mathematics, that will identify priorities for strategic missions in the decade 2023-3032.  There are many exciting destinations within the solar system and these missions will provide new opportunities for international partnership.</p><p>The exploration of the Solar System is uniquely poised to bring planetary scientists, worldwide, together under the common theme of understanding the origin, evolution, and bodies of our solar neighborhood. NASA’s Planetary Science Division provides the planetary science community with opportunities to include international participation on NASA missions. NASA's Discovery and New Frontiers Programs provide U.S. scientists the opportunity to assemble international teams and design exciting, focused planetary science investigations that would deepen the knowledge of our Solar System. The most recent call for Discovery ideas will soon announce selections as part of Step 1 of the competitive process.  NASA continues to encourage the international science community to take full advantage of the many opportunities provided.</p>

Gaia spectroscopic view of the asteroid main belt and beyond

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Delbo ◽  
Laurent Galluccio ◽  
Francesca De Angeli ◽  
Paolo Tanga ◽  
Alberto Cellino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Reflectance Spectra ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Belt ◽  
Compositional Gradient ◽  
Solar System Object ◽  
Science Community

<div class="">Asteroids reflectance spectra in the visible light will be one of the novel products of the Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3). These spectra are produced from Gaia observations obtained by means of the blue and red photometers — the so-called BP and RP, respectively. We will review the strategy adopted to produce asteroid reflectance spectra from BP-RP data, focusing on the choice of spectro-photometric calibrations computed taking into account solar system object astrometry and suitable lists of solar-analog stars.</div> <div class=""> </div> <div class="">Our preliminary investigation shows that we will be able to obtain reflectance spectra for asteroids as small as some km in the main belt, by exploiting the fact that each object has been observed multiple times by Gaia. We will show the capability of Gaia to probe the detailed compositional gradient of the main belt down to small sizes and to study correlations between spectral classes and other asteroid physical parameters, such as albedo and size.</div> <div class=""> </div> <div class="">Concerning the brightest asteroids, we expect to have substantial signal at wavelengths shorter than 450 nm, allowing Gaia to examine this region of the spectrum that has been poorly investigated by ground-based asteroid spectroscopic surveys. This region is characterised by the presence of a reflectance downturn that is diagnostic for the composition of classes of primitive asteroids, for instance those including the parent bodies of carbonaceous chondrites. These asteroids may have played an important role for the delivery of prebiotic compounds to Earth during the early phases of solar system' s history and, as such, are at the center of attention of the planetary science community. </div>

scholarly journals Asteroid Evolution: Role of Geotechnical Properties

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (S318) ◽  
pp. 111-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Planetary Science ◽  
Geotechnical Properties ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Numerical Tools ◽  
Rubble Pile

AbstractThis paper presents a brief review and latest results of the work that has been carried out by the Planetary Science community in order to understand the role of the geotechnical properties of granular asteroids (commonly known as “rubble-pile” asteroids) in their formation, evolution and possible disruption. As such, we will touch in aspects of the theoretical and numerical tools that have been used with this objective and how the obtained results compare to the observed asteroids.

Experience of DAN investigation of subsurface water on Mars onboard the rover Curiosity for the future ADRON-RM experiment on the ExoMars rover

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Nikiforov ◽  
Igor Mitrofanov ◽  
Maxim Litvak ◽  
Maya Djachkova ◽  
Dmitry Golovin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Subsurface Water ◽  
Energy Bands ◽  
Neutron Spectrometer ◽  
Advanced Technique ◽  
Water Abundance ◽  
Hydrogen Water ◽  
Scientific Potential

<p>     Remote neutron sensing onboard martian rovers is an advanced technique in planetary science. Such measurements provide investigations on hydrogen abundances and elements with high thermal neutron absorption cross sections down to ~60 cm of subsurface [<strong>1</strong>]. The presence of hydrogen (mostly water/ice) in subsurface significantly influences the neutron leakage spectrum due moderation and thermalization through collisions with hydrogen nuclei. As a result, the variations of neutron flux detected onboard in different energy bands correlate with subsurface hydrogen/water abundance.</p> <p><em>     Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons</em> (DAN) is the first neutron spectrometer installed on the NASA’s rover [<strong>2</strong>]. More than 7 years, NASA rover is successfully traversing across Mars surface exploring Gale crater. Adron-RM is the next generation neutron spectrometer, which is a part of the ExoMars 2022 rover payload [<strong>3</strong>].</p> <p>     This work will present scientific potential of remote neutron technique to distinguish local features in martian subsurface, based on DAN findings. In addition, we will provide Adron-RM measurement schematic and scientific potential on investigations in the area of the ExoMars 2022 landing site.</p> <p><em>     References</em></p> <p>[<strong>1</strong>] <em>Nikiforov, S. Y., et al., (2020). Assessment of water content in martian subsurface along the traverse of the Curiosity rover based on passive measurements of the DAN instrument. Icarus, 346, 113818.</em> https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113818</p> <p>[<strong>2</strong>] <em>Mitrofanov, I. G., et al., (2012). Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) experiment onboard NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory. Space Science Reviews, 170(1–4), 559–582.</em> https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-012-9924-y</p> <p>[<strong>3</strong>] <em>Mitrofanov, I. G., et al., (2017). The ADRON-RM Instrument Onboard the ExoMars Rover. Astrobiology, 17(6–7), 585–594.</em> https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2016.1566</p>

Channelling Our Efforts: Europlanet in Social Media

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Usher ◽  
Sarah Roberts ◽  
Anita Heward
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Mailing Lists ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Social Media Communication

<div dir="ltr">The (small) Europlanet social media team has agreed aims of: Informing, Enthusing, Engaging, Encouraging and Celebrating the European Planetary Science Community and the wider community too.  Their work supplements the more traditional channels of website, newletters and mailing lists.</div> <div dir="ltr"> </div> <div dir="ltr">But how can this be done most effectively?  What channels should be used?  What content? What frequency?</div> <div dir="ltr"> </div> <div dir="ltr">If the needs of the communities are to be met, they first need to be identified.  There is currently a lack of data for this.</div> <div dir="ltr"> </div> <div dir="ltr">The proposed interactive poster will pose some questions for the community to consider during EPSC2020, link to a survey for data collection, and use the interactive, virtual nature of the meeting to stimulate a wide discussion.  The data and views of the community will then be used to inform the social media communication strategy for the remainder of the Europlanet 2024 RI Programme.</div>

An introduction to the special issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters on USArray science

2014 ◽  
Vol 402 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen D. Long ◽  
Alan Levander ◽  
Peter M. Shearer
Keyword(s):  
Planetary Science ◽  
Special Issue

scholarly journals Mission to the Trojan asteroids: Lessons learned during a JPL Planetary Science Summer School mission design exercise

2013 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 68-82
Author(s):  
Serina Diniega ◽  
Kunio M. Sayanagi ◽  
Jeffrey Balcerski ◽  
Bryce Carande ◽  
Ricardo A. Diaz-Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Summer School ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Mission Design ◽  
Trojan Asteroids ◽  
School Mission

scholarly journals JGR: Planets and a Community of Planetary Science

Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hauck II
Keyword(s):  
Planetary Science ◽  
Science Community

The outgoing Editor-in-Chief of JGR: Planets reflects on the journal’s role serving the planetary science community and expresses appreciation for all those who contribute to its success.

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