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At least 163 records · Page 9

The surface of Io - Geologic units, morphology, and tectonics

The geologic units, morphology and tectonics evident on a preliminary geological map obtained from best-resolution Voyager 1 images and a preliminary pictorial map of the surface of Io are discussed. Nine volcanic units are identified on the surface which are composed of mountain materials, intervent, layered and eroded layered plains, and wall and floor, pit crater flow, shield crater flow, fissure flow and crater cone units associated with volcanic vents, along with seven types of structural features. The cumulative volcanic crater size distribution of 170 Ionian vents with craters greater than 14 km is similar to that of impact craters on other solar system bodies, with a surplus of small craters and a preponderance of volcanic vents in the Io equatorial zone. The observed surface morphologies provide evidence for a mixture of silicates and sulfur as the dominant surface material. Lineaments and grabens are also apparent on the surface, in a common planetary grid pattern.

Schaber, G. G.↗

A bibliography of planetary geology principal investigators and their associates, 1982 - 1983

This bibliography cites recent publications by principal investigators and their associates, supported through NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications, Earth and Planetary Exploration Division, Planetary Geology Program. It serves as a companion piece to NASA TM-85127, ""Reports of Planetary Programs, 1982". Entries are listed under the following subject areas: solar system, comets, asteroids, meteorites and small bodies; geologic mapping, geomorphology, and stratigraphy; structure, tectonics, and planetary and satellite evolutions; impact craters; volcanism; fluvial, mass wasting, glacial and preglacial studies; Eolian and Arid climate studies; regolith, volatiles, atmosphere, and climate, radar; remote sensing and photometric studies; and cartography, photogrammetry, geodesy, and altimetry. An author index is provided.

Plescia, J. B.↗

Workshop on Oxygen in the Terrestrial Planets

This volume contains abstracts that have been accepted for presentation at the Workshop on Oxygen in the Terrestrial Planets, July 20-23,2004, Santa Fe, New Mexico. The contents include: 1) Experimental Constraints on Oxygen and Other Light Element Partitioning During Planetary Core Formation; 2) In Situ Determination of Fe(3+)/SigmaFe of Spinels by Electron Microprobe: An Evaluation of the Flank Method; 3) The Effect of Oxygen Fugacity on Large-Strain Deformation and Recrystallization of Olivine; 4) Plagioclase-Liquid Trace Element Oxygen Barometry and Oxygen Behaviour in Closed and Open System Magmatic Processes; 5) Core Formation in the Earth: Constraints from Ni and Co; 6) Oxygen Isotopic Compositions of the Terrestrial Planets; 7) The Effect of Oxygen Fugacity on Electrical Conduction of Olivine and Implications for Earth s Mantle; 8) Redox Chemical Diffusion in Silicate Melts: The Impact of the Semiconductor Condition; 9) Ultra-High Temperature Effects in Earth s Magma Ocean: Pt and W Partitioning; 10) Terrestrial Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotope Variations: Primordial Values, Systematics, Subsolidus Effects, Planetary Comparisons, and the Role of Water; 11) Redox State of the Moon s Interior; 12) How did the Terrestrial Planets Acquire Their Water?; 13) Molecular Oxygen Mixing Ratio and Its Seasonal Variability in the Martian Atmosphere; 14) Exchange Between the Atmosphere and the Regolith of Mars: Discussion of Oxygen and Sulfur Isotope Evidence; 15) Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotope Systematics of Atmospheric Water Vapor and Meteoric Waters: Evidence from North Texas; 16) Implications of Isotopic and Redox Heterogeneities in Silicate Reservoirs on Mars; 17) Oxygen Isotopic Variation of the Terrestrial Planets; 18) Redox Exchanges in Hydrous Magma; 19) Hydrothermal Systems on Terrestrial Planets: Lessons from Earth; 20) Oxygen in Martian Meteorites: A Review of Results from Mineral Equilibria Oxybarometers; 21) Non-Linear Fractionation of Oxygen Isotopes Implanted in Lunar Metal Grains: Solar, Lunar or Terrestrial Origin? 22) Isotopic Zoning in the Inner Solar System; 23) Redox Conditions on Small Bodies; 24) Determining the Oxygen Fugacity of Lunar Pyroclastic Glasses Using Vanadium Valence - An Update; 25) Mantle Redox Evolution and the Rise of Atmospheric O2; 26) Variation of Kd for Fe-Mg Exchange Between Olivine and Melt for Compositions Ranging from Alkaline Basalt to Rhyolite; 27) Determining the Partial Pressure of Oxygen (PO,) in Solutions on Mars; 28) The Influence of Oxygen Environment on Kinetic Properties of Silicate Rocks and Minerals; 29) Redox Evolution of Magmatic Systems; 30) The Constancy of Upper Mantlefo, Through Time Inferred from V/Sc Ratios in Basalts: Implications for the Rise in Atmospheric 0 2; 31) Nitrogen Solubility in Basaltic Melt. Effects of Oxygen Fugacity, Melt Composition and Gas Speciation; 32) Oxygen Isotope Anomalies in the Atmospheres of Earth and Mars; 33) The Effect of Oxygen Fugacity on Interdiffusion of Iron and Magnesium in Magnesiowiistite 34) The Calibration of the Pyroxene Eu-Oxybarometer for the Martian Meteorites; 35) The Europium Oxybarometer: Power and Pitfalls; 36) Oxygen Fugacity of the Martian Mantle from PigeoniteMelt Partitioning of Samarium, Europium and Gadolinium; 37) Oxidation-Reduction Processes on the Moon: Experimental Verification of Graphite Oxidation in the Apollo 17 Orange Glasses; 38) Oxygen and Core Formation in the Earth; 39) Geologic Record of the Atmospheric Sulfur Chemistry Before the Oxygenation of the Early Earth s Atmosphere; 40) Comparative Planetary Mineralogy: V/(CrCAl) Systematics in Chromite as an Indicator of Relative Oxygen Fugacity; 41) How Well do Sulfur Isotopes Constrain Oxygen Abundance in the Ancient Atmospheres? 42) Experimental Constraints on the Oxygen Isotope (O-18/ O-16) Fractionation in the Ice vapor and Adsorbant vapor Systems of CO2 at Conditions Relevant to the Surface of Mars; 43) Micro-XANES Measurements on Experimental Spinels andhe Oxidation State of Vanadium in Spinel-Melt Pairs; 44) Testing the Magma Ocean Hypothesis Using Metal-Silicate Partitioning of Te, Se and S; 45) Solubility of Oxygen in Liquid Iron at High Pressure and Consequences for the Early Differentiation of Earth and Mars Metallic Liquid Segregation in Planetesimals; 46) Oxygen Fugacity of Lunar Basalts and the Lunar Mantle. Range of fo2 and the Effectiveness of Oxybarometers; 47) Thermodynamic Study of Dissociation Processes of Molecular Oxygen in Vapor over Oxide Compounds; 48) Oxygen Profile of a Thermo-Haliophilic Community in the Badwater Salt Flat; 49) Oxygen Barometry Using Synchrotron MicroXANES of Vanadium; 50) Mass-Independent Isotopic Fractionation of Sulfur from Sulfides in the Huronian Supergroup, Canada; 51) Mass Independent Isotopes and Applications to Planetary Atmospheres; 52) Electrical Conductivity, Oxygen Fugacity, and Mantle Materials; 53) Crustal Evolution and Maturation on Earth: Oxygen Isotope Evidence; 54) The Oxygen Isotope Composition of the Moon: Implications for Planet Formation; 55) Oxygen Isotope Composition of Eucrites and Implications for the Formation of Crust on the HED Parent Body; and 56) The Role of Water in Determining the Oxygen Isotopic Composition of Planets.

Source record↗

Searching for Chips of Kuiper Belt Objects in Meteorites

The Nice model [1&2] describes a scenario whereby the Jovian planets experienced a violent reshuffling event approx.3:9 Ga the giant planets moved, existing small body reservoirs were depleted or eliminated, and new reservoirs were created in particular locations. The Nice model quantitatively explains the orbits of the Jovian planets and Neptune [1], the orbits of bodies in several different small body reservoirs in the outer solar system (e.g., Trojans of Jupiter [2], the Kuiper belt and scattered disk [3], the irregular satellites of the giant planets [4], and the late heavy bombardment on the terrestrial planets approx.3:9 Ga [5]. This model is unique in plausibly explaining all of these phenomena. One issue with the Nice model is that it predicts that transported Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) (things looking like D class asteroids) should predominate in the outer asteroid belt, but we know only about 10% of the objects in the outer main asteroid belt appear to be D-class objects [6]. However based upon collisional modeling, Bottke et al. [6] argue that more than 90% of the objects captured in the outer main belt could have been eliminated by impacts if they had been weakly-indurated objects. These disrupted objects should have left behind pieces in the ancient regoliths of other, presumably stronger asteroids. Thus, a derived prediction of the Nice model is that ancient regolith samples (regolith-bearing meteorites) should contain fragments of collisionally-destroyed Kuiper belt objects. In fact KBO pieces might be expected to be present in most ancient regolith- bearing meteorites [7&8].

Zolensky, M. E.↗

Organic-rich fluids in Pluto’s interior—A source of cryovolcanic activity

The highly variegated surface of Pluto revealed by the New Horizons spacecraft is composed of both volatile ices (N2, CH4, CO) and H2O ice, all of which are intrinsically colorless. The colors on Pluto reveal a non-ice component generally acknowledged to be a refractory complex organic material (tholins) produced by photolysis in the planet’s atmosphere [1], and by photolysis and radiolysis of the surface ices [2-4]. These processes have produced a range of colors from pale yellow to red to brown, and result in a variation of a factor of 10in albedo across the surface. Tholins are disordered polymer-like materials made of repeating chains of linked subunits and complex combinations of functional groups containing carbon. Nitrogen, oxygen, and other elements can be substituted in both the aliphatic and aromatic subunits. The detection of the spectral absorption of an ammoniated compound associated with surface exposures of red-colored H2O ice (herein, RAW) in the LEISA spectral mapping data from New Horizons suggests that a third source of a colored material is ejected from Pluto’s interior as a water-rich fluid(cryomagma) that rapidly freezes at the low temperature (~40K) of the surface [5,6]. The ammoniated compound is thought to be an ammonia hydrate or an ammoniated salt; the spectral data cover a limited wavelength range, resulting in ambiguity in the identification of the form of the ammonia. The distribution of RAW in the vicinity of tectonically stressed and deformed geological structures, particularly graben (fossae), is seen as the result of both fluid effusion and fountaining ejection of cryoclastic materials in Pluto’s Virgil Fossae region [5,6]. RAW is seen elsewhere on Pluto, both in association with graben complexes and on broad expanses of old surface, but primarily in zones of tectonic stress. The nature of the putative subsurface fluid is unknown, but it must have existed at relatively shallow depths such that the graben faulting could reach it. Geochemical modeling of fluids in the interiors of small planetary bodies in the outer Solar System[7] shows that ammonia-bearing H2O in contact with rock and metal components produce a rich chemical soup, including gases that can, in principle, help propel the fluid from shallow reservoirs through crustal fractures to reach the surface. An organic component of the fluid cryomagma is predicted to originate from thermal processing of the components [ref] and may be an example of one-pot synthesis of such complexes as amino acid precursors [ref].

Dale P Cruikshank↗

Spacewatch Survey of the Solar System

The purpose of the Spacewatch project is to explore the various populations of small objects throughout the solar system. Statistics on all classes of small bodies are needed to infer their physical and dynamical evolution. More Earth Approachers need to be found to assess the impact hazard. (We have adopted the term "Earth Approacher", EA, to include all those asteroids, nuclei of extinct short period comets, and short period comets that can approach close to Earth. The adjective "near" carries potential confusion, as we have found in communicating with the media, that the objects are always near Earth, following it like a cloud.) Persistent and voluminous accumulation of astrometry of incidentally observed main belt asteroids MBAs will eventually permit the Minor Planet Center (MPQ to determine the orbits of large numbers (tens of thousands) of asteroids. Such a large body of information will ultimately allow better resolution of orbit classes and the determinations of luminosity functions of the various classes, Comet and asteroid recoveries are essential services to planetary astronomy. Statistics of objects in the outer solar system (Centaurs, scattered-disk objects, and Trans-Neptunian Objects; TNOs) ultimately will tell part of the story of solar system evolution. Spacewatch led the development of sky surveying by electronic means and has acted as a responsible interface to the media and general public on this discipline and on the issue of the hazard from impacts by asteroids and comets.

McMillan, Robert S.↗

Precise Image-Based Motion Estimation for Autonomous Small Body Exploration

Because they hold answers to questions about the origin of our solar system, comets and asteroids play a prominent role in NASA's roadmap for solar system exploration. This paper presents an algorithm for autonomous onboard motion estimation that will enable the precision guidance and landing necessary for small body sample return.

precision↗

The nature and effects of impact cratering on small bodies

Collisions between asteroids and other forms of solar system debris are discussed, especially relatively high-energy, non-catastrophic collisions, the resulting craters, and the effects they should have on the surfaces and interiors of target bodies. Attention is given to the nature and formation of impact craters, as well as to shock waves and the energy (kinetic, internal) imparted through them, crater scaling, stress wave-surface interactions, impact melt, and the effects of non-escaping ejecta on the surface of the target body (rock, fine-grained regolith, porous media).

Cintala, M. J.↗

“Are We There Yet?” Can We Biomap the Solar System with Low-Cost Solar Sail Missions?

Abstract: So much of our effort in space exploration has been devoted to one-off missions with major investments in each. This is a great strategy for early investigations of clearly significant planetary and small body destinations, but we have an entire Solar System to interrogate and the pace has definitely been slow to date. We are in the dawning era of much smaller spacecraft, and the potential to gather data from multiple destinations over longer time spans with a heightened cadence of missions to allow us to conduct survey-style investigations of the vast number of objects that attend our particular star. If we think of solar systems as belonging to one of two classes, i.e. life-bearing or not life-bearing, then the presence of some sort of biological or prebiological phenomenon on any individual body in a system places that system in the first category. The emergence of life can then be considered as a solar system-wide property and the entire suite of ingredients and processes that go into kindling of life anywhere within that system is of interest. This ranges from bodies with prebiotic chemistry through to full-blown biospheres. Thus, all bodies in a solar system are part of the milieu within which life occurs. Can the idea of low-cost solar sail-propelled spacecraft deployed en masse be useful for something as hard to investigate as life-like phenomena and their precursors? Perhaps, the answer is yes, and we must give serious attention to the possibilities.

Penelope J Boston↗

Thermal Development Test of the NEXT PM1 ION Engine

NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) is a next-generation high-power ion thruster under development by NASA as a part of the In-Space Propulsion Technology Program. NEXT is designed for use on robotic exploration missions of the solar system using solar electric power. Potential mission destinations that could benefit from a NEXT Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system include inner planets, small bodies, and outer planets and their moons. This range of robotic exploration missions generally calls for ion propulsion systems with deep throttling capability and system input power ranging from 0.6 to 25 kW, as referenced to solar array output at 1 Astronomical Unit (AU). Thermal development testing of the NEXT prototype model 1 (PM1) was conducted at JPL to assist in developing and validating a thruster thermal model and assessing the thermal design margins. NEXT PM1 performance prior to, during and subsequent to thermal testing are presented. Test results are compared to the predicted hot and cold environments expected missions and the functionality of the thruster for these missions is discussed.

NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT)↗

Thermal Development Test of the NEXT PM1 Ion Engine

NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) is a next-generation high-power ion propulsion system under development by NASA as a part of the In-Space Propulsion Technology Program. NEXT is designed for use on robotic exploration missions of the solar system using solar electric power. Potential mission destinations that could benefit from a NEXT Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system include inner planets, small bodies, and outer planets and their moons. This range of robotic exploration missions generally calls for ion propulsion systems with deep throttling capability and system input power ranging from 0.6 to 25 kW, as referenced to solar array output at 1 Astronomical Unit (AU). Thermal development testing of the NEXT prototype model 1 (PM1) was conducted at JPL to assist in developing and validating a thruster thermal model and assessing the thermal design margins. NEXT PM1 performance prior to, during and subsequent to thermal testing are presented. Test results are compared to the predicted hot and cold environments expected missions and the functionality of the thruster for these missions is discussed.

Anderson, John R.↗

Requirements for Portable Instrument Suites during Human Scientific Exploration of Mars

Human explorers on the surface of Mars will have access to a far wider array of scientific tools than previous crewed planetary exploration missions, but not every tool will be compatible with the restrictions of this exploration. Spectrometers on flyby, orbital, and landed missions are currently used to determine the composition and mineralogy of geological materials of various types and sizes, from small fragments to celestial bodies in the solar system. Handheld spectrometers that are capable of in situ analyses are already used for geological exploration on Earth; however, their usefulness for human exploration missions and how data from multiple handheld instruments could be combined to enhance scientific return must be further evaluated. As part of the Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (BASALT) research project, we incorporated two handheld instruments, a visible-near infrared spectrometer and an X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometer, into simulated Mars exploration missions conducted on basaltic terrains in Idaho and Hawai'i. To understand the data quality provided by these handheld spectrometers, we evaluated their performance under varying conditions of measurement time, distance, angle, atmosphere, and sample matrix, and we compared data quality between handheld instruments and laboratory techniques. Here, we summarize these findings, provide guidelines and requirements on how to effectively incorporate these instruments into human exploration missions to Mars, and posit that future iterations of these instruments will be beneficial for enhancing science returned from human exploration missions.

Alexander Sehlke↗

Developing Science Operations Concepts for the Future of Planetary Surface Exploration

Through fly-by, orbiter, rover, and even crewed missions, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been extremely successful in exploring planetary bodies throughout our Solar System. The focus on increasingly complex Mars orbiter and rover missions has helped us understand how Mars has evolved over time and whether life has ever existed on the red planet. However, large strategic knowledge gaps (SKGs) still exist in our understanding of the evolution of the Solar System (e.g. the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, Small Bodies Analysis Group, and Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group). Sending humans to these bodies is a critical part of addressing these SKGs in order to transition to a new era of planetary exploration by 2050.

Young, K. E.↗

Investigation of small solar system objects with the space telescope

The application of the space telescope (ST) to study small objects in the solar system in order to understand the birth and the early evolution of the solar system is discussed. The upper size limit of the small bodies is defined as approximately 5000 km and includes planetary satellites, planetary rings, asteroids, and comets.The use of the astronomical instruments aboard the ST, such as the faint object camera, ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers, and spectrophotometers, to study the small solar system objects is discussed.

Morrison, D.↗

Getting Involved with the Discovery Program

NASA's Discovery Program represents the implementation of NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin's vision of 'faster, better, cheaper' planetary missions; encompasses a series of low-cost solar system exploration missions intended to accomplish high quality, focused planetary science investigations using innovative, streamlined, and efficient approaches to assure the highest science value for the cost; and aims to enhance our understanding of the solar system by exploring the planets, their moons and other small bodies, either by traveling to them or remotely from the vicinity of Earth. The objectives of this program include the following: (1) Provide exciting and important scientific data to the global community; (2) Pursue new and innovative ways of doing business; (3) Encourage technological development by designing and testing new technologies and transferring them to the private sector; (4) Increase public awareness of, and appreciation for, solar system exploration through exciting education and public outreach activities; (5) Support national education initiatives through mission-specific programs; and (6) Ensure participation of small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned businesses, HBCUs, and other minority educational institutions in procurements.

Asplund, Shari↗

The Solar Cruiser Mission

Selected by NASA as an ESPA-class rideshare technology demonstration mission to launch with the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission in 2025, the NASA MSFC Solar Cruiser mission will mature solar sail technology for use in future Heliophysics missions, as well as missions of interest across a broad user community including NOAA, Earth, and Planetary Sciences. Solar sails, which use reflected sunlight to derive thrust, can be used to create artificial equilibria and near-indefinite station-keeping at locations sunward of L1 along the Sun Earth Line (SEL), or at any desired offset from the SEL leading or trailing the Earth in its orbit. They can change the heliocentric inclination of a spacecraft from the ecliptic to as high as solar polar, stopping and remaining at any intermediate inclination orbit in between or can be used around a range of solar system bodies. The Solar Cruiser mission will fly a small spacecraft (~100 kg) with a large (>1600 square meter) solar sail containing embedded reflectivity control devices (RCDs) and photovoltaic cells, attaining a characteristic acceleration of >0.12 mm/s2. The mission concept includes successful deployment of the solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping inside of the Sun-Earth L1 point, demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and finally an increase in heliocentric inclination (out of the ecliptic plane). Solar Cruiser would serve as a pathfinder for missions that observe the solar environment from unique vantage points such as a high inclination solar mission, opening a fundamentally new range of observational capabilities for the Heliophysics Program and for space weather monitoring. Observations away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL) present unique opportunities for answering the outstanding science questions of Heliophysics, for improving space-weather monitoring and prediction, and for revealing new discoveries about our Sun and solar system. High solar inclinations are particularly compelling. Investment in, and demonstration of, the technology needed to enable polar missions is essential to making this unique vantage point a reality in the next decade.

Solar Sail↗

Automatic Design of Missions to Small Bodies

The new JPL Small-Body Automatic Mission-Design System comprises two main elements: a database of pre-computed mission options to all known asteroids and comets, and an interactive web interface that can be used to design transfers to each small body. The system is kept current with the JPL Small Body orbit catalog, is publicly available, and can be accessed from the JPL Solar System Dynamics Group website. The missions computed by the automatic system are impulsive. However, a low-thrust v estimate is also provided. The database of pre-computed missions can be filtered to find potential targets with certain orbital and physical properties, and that meet specific mission-design constraints. In addition to describing the system in detail, this paper presents empirical analytic expressions to approximate the impulsive v requirements of missions to comets and to each family of asteroids, obtained by fitting statistical data. To show how the interactive interface works, we consider mission options to asteroid 99942 Apophis. We also include optimal mission opportunities to other selected small bodies.

Farnocchia, Davide↗

Character of the opposition effect and negative polarization

Photometric and polarimetric properties at small phase angles were measured for silicates with controlled surface properties in order to distinguish properties that are associated with surface reflection from those that are associated with multiple scattering from internal grain boundaries. These data provide insight into the causes and conditions of photometric properties observed at small phase angles for dark bodies of the solar system. Obsidian was chosen to represent a silicate dielectric with no internal scattering boundaries. Because obsidian is free of internal scatterers, light reflected from both the rough and smooth obsidian samples is almost entirely single and multiple Fresnel reflections form surface facets with no body component. Surface structure alone cannot produce an opposition effect. Comparison of the obsidian and basalt results indicates that for an opposition effect to occur, surface texture must be both rough and contain internal scattering interfaces. Although the negative polarization observed for the obsidian samples indicates single and multiple reflections are part of negative polarization, the longer inversion angle of the multigrain inversion samples implies that internal reflections must also contribute a significant negative polarization component.

Pieters, Carle M.↗