Eleonora Ammannito’s research while affiliated with ASI Science Data Centre and other places

... We carried out this survey in context with the development of the Ma_MISS instrument (e.g., De De Angelis et al., 2022;Altieri et al., 2023). Whilst we are collecting further information on the infrared signatures of extensive clay-bearing outcrops found in several key regions on Mars (see Table 3), some lab measurements are being conducted to enable more comparative analyses, notably on Martian meteorites (e.g., De Angelis et al., 2023) and samples collected in analogous sites (e.g., Ferrari et al., 2023a;Ferrari et al., 2023b;Bruschini et al., 2024). Putting together these complementary studies will indubitably enhance our understanding of aqueous weathering on Mars and constrain the environmental processes taking place on the planet through its history, which are of great relevance for planetary evolution and astrobiology. ...

Reference:

Clay mineralogy in west Chryse Planitia, Mars: Comparison with present and future landing sites

... Beyond Earth, the colonization of habitable, but uninhabited envir onments potentiall y has ethical implications, including those impinging on planetary protection protocols that militate against 'harmful' contamination of extraterrestrial environments (Coustenis et al. 2023 ). Planetary protection has been largely focused on protecting the scientific potential of extr aterr estrial environments (including deleterious impacts of contamination on the search for life), but in recent years discussion has expanded to ethical concerns (Rummel et al. 2012 ). ...

Reference:

Where the microbes aren't

... These have been corrected according to the method implemented by F. G. Carrozzo et al. (2016). Residual slope effects have been corrected as discussed in A. Raponi et al. (2023). The observed spectra of Ceres's surface are affected by thermal emissions longward of 3.2 μm, which hides the absorption bands and prevents comparison with laboratory reflectance spectra of analogous materials. ...

Reference:

New Candidates for Organic-rich Regions on Ceres

... In addition, essential elements to consider are not only human safety but planetary protection as well. In this study, we define planetary protection as the responsibility to avoid the unwanted contamination of habitable sites of interest with terrestrial microorganisms also known as forward contamination, as well as the contamination of Earth with dangerous material, known as backward contamination (Coustenis et al., 2023). ...

Reference:

Survival of Environment-Derived Opportunistic Bacterial Pathogens to Martian Conditions: Is There a Concern for Human Missions to Mars?

... According to L. A. Yarzábal et al. (2021), ice sheet melt and permafrost thaw induced by global warming could release pathogenic microorganisms, and expose human population to a risk of biological contamination. Regarding pathogens of extraterrestrial origin, the risk of biological contamination is taken very seriously by organizations such as NASA and ESA for all space missions (Glavin et al., 2004(Glavin et al., & 2010Zorzano et al., 2023). The main kind of risks identified are the contamination from Earth on other planets (including their possible moons), as well as contamination of extraterrestrial origin upon return from certain missions, for example, in anticipation of future return missions to Mars. ...

Reference:

PLANCHON, O., THOMAZO, C., POUZET, P., ALLINNE, C. (2024) : Alien archaeology in science fiction cinema. Art and Science, 8 (1), 31-52, ISSN : 2515-8767, DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1180. Accès en ligne : https://www.openscience.fr/Alien-Archaeology-in-science-fiction-cinema HAL : https://hal.science/hal-04654906

... The science operations team had to reconcile the science goals of assessing habitability and biosignature preservation with the Icelandic terrestrial field site. Although the initial site selection process (Basu et al. 2022) avoided exploration zones that would be classified as "special regions" on Mars, referring to regions of specific water and temperature activity that may be contaminated by terrestrial organisms and may sustain extant Martian life (Olsson- Francis et al. 2023), the team was asked to be cautious of and ignore any such features during the mission. The team also ignored "Earth-isms" that would not exist on the Martian surface, including meteoric water and any vegetation (e.g., lichen). ...

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Comparing Rover and Helicopter Planetary Mission Architectures in a Mars Analog Setting in Iceland

... all related to space science activities. One of the core activities of COSPAR since the earliest days of space exploration has been to develop, maintain, and promote an international Policy on Planetary Protection (referred to as "the Policy" hereafter) with its associated requirements (Coustenis et al., 2021e;2022f). This Policy constitutes the primary scientifically authoritative international reference standard to guide compliance with Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty and is the only internationally agreed planetary protection standard available for reference and use by all States and is based on the latest available scientific data. ...

Reference:

Planetary protection: an international concern and responsibility

... Callegari et al. [34] review how optical tweezers have been successfully used to quantitatively study critical Casimir forces acting on particles in suspensions. Finally, Polimeno et al. (space tweezers collaboration) [35] describe how optical tweezers could be used to trap and characterize extraterrestrial particulate matter opening perspectives for optical tweezers applications in space, on planetary bodies surface, or in curator facilities designed for the uncontaminated handling and preliminary characterization of extraterrestrial samples returned by space probes. ...

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Light pressure across all scales: editorial

... To manage the high computational demands, a multilevel particle size simulation is used, with thermal sieves placed between zones to assess the impact of specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity. The results from these simulations, which use the central composite design technique [88], reveal temperature variations based on the distance from the heat source and depth, as illustrated in Fig. 11. ...

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Utilizing machine learning and digital twin technology for rock parameter estimation from drilling data

... Neither, we do not know of any research that has specifically looked at this topic-the distribution of potential S-type impactor material on Ceres. Another point to note is that the organic-rich areas in the Ernutet region contain higher-than-background amounts of ammoniated compounds and carbonates (De Sanctis & Ammannito, 2021;De Sanctis et al., 2019), and even organic-amines . Amines are known to exist on comets (Glavin et al., 2008), while evidence for ammoniated salts have been found on 67/P (Altwegg et al., 2020), and carbonates on 9P/Tempel 1 (Lisse et al., 2006). ...

Reference:

Ceres: Organic‐Rich Sites of Exogenic Origin?