Planetary Science - Science topic

The coagulation (or aggregation) equation was introduced by Smoluchowski in 1916 to describe the clumping together of colloidal particles through diffusion, but has been used in many different contexts as diverse as physical chemistry, chemical engineering, atmospheric physics, planetary science, and economics. The effectiveness of clumping is desc...

Planetary radar observations have provided invaluable information on the solar system through both ground-based and space-based observations. In this overview article, we summarize how radar observations have contributed in planetary science, how the radar technology as a remote-sensing method for planetary exploration and the methods to interpret...

Characterizing the temporal evolution of the three‐dimensional structure of the Io plasma torus is essential to understand the dynamics of the Jovian magnetosphere. Optical imaging is a powerful tool to uncover the global torus structure. Currently, two ground‐based optical telescopes with diameters of 0.8 and 1.8 m, respectively, are under constru...

Grid theory is rather commonly-used through out the research of integer ambiguity. In order to promote the efficiency of computation, it is of great necessity to reduce the correlations of the grid basis through the reduction. The classical reduction algorithm is known as the LLL (Lenstra–Lenstra–Lovász) algorithm. So as to further enhance the redu...

Distinguishing planetary formation and evolution pathways and understanding the origins of volatiles on planetary bodies requires determination of relative abundances and isotope ratios in the noble gases, and also of the isotope ratios in C, H, N, O and S at high precisions. Traditional planetary mass spectrometers uniquely provide excellent surve...

Estimating global and multi-level Thermosphere Neutral Density (TND) is important for studying coupling processes within the upper atmosphere, and for applications like orbit prediction. Models are applied for predicting TND changes, however, their performance can be improved by accounting for the simplicity of model structure and the sampling limi...

This study thoroughly evaluates sustainable energy practices in Mozambique, identifies suitable activities and suggests future research directions. The authors meticulously detail the research tasks undertaken to achieve the primary objective of the study, including organizing articles by publication year, journal and conference papers; identifying...

Services from the Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) provide data and insights to a range of research areas such as physical sciences, engineering, earth and planetary sciences, computer science, and environmental science. Even though these fields are varied, they are all linked through...

This paper presents a study for the realization of a space mission which employs nanosatellites driven by an external laser source impinging on an optimized lightsail, as a valuable technology to launch swarms of spacecrafts into the Solar System. Nanosatellites propelled by laser can be useful for heliosphere exploration and for planetary observat...

Many studies use Ocean Health Index (OHI) calculations on global and regional scales. There was still a dearth of research that used a framework to examine the local level. Meanwhile, policies to achieve environmental management objectives for marine ecosystems will be more applicable locally. This study aims to discover the most appropriate benchm...

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been shown to provide students with a variety of learning benefits including better conceptual understanding, improved critical thinking and data literacy skills, and increased interest in pursuing scientific careers. Additionally, CUREs provide students with opportunities to participate...

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has been orbiting Mars since 2014 and now has over 10,000 orbits which we use to characterize Mars' dynamic space environment. Through global field line tracing with MAVEN magnetic field data we find an altitude dependent draping morphology that differs from expectations of induced magnetos...

Introduction: I am an independent scientist and try to archive facts for cosmochemistry. The present research is not aimed at damaging the reputation and honor of any scientists involved. On the contrary, I fundamentally believe that they were honest and mistaken about the complex matter. Relatively high Ir contents of up to 0.88 ng/g Ir were pres...

In this work, we present a comprehensive investigation into the production, characteristics, handling, and storage of micrometre-sized granular water-ice. The focus of this research is to provide well-characterized analogue samples for laboratory experiments simulating icy bodies found in the Solar system, particularly comets. These experiments are...

The study of Martian surface topography is important for understanding the geological evolution of Mars and revealing the spatial differentiation of the Martian landscape. Identifying typical landform units is a fundamental task when studying the origin and evolution of Mars and provides important information for landing on and exploring Mars, as w...

Aqueous S[IV] species (HSO, SO) derived from volcanogenic atmospheric SO are important to planetary habitability through their roles in proposed origins-of-life chemistry and influence on atmospheric sulfur haze formation, but the early cycling of S[IV] is poorly understood. Here, we combine new laboratory constraints on S[IV] disproportionation ki...

This comprehensive study was dedicated to augmenting the sensing capabilities of Ni@GP_PEDOT@H2S through the strategic functionalization with nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur heteroatoms. Governed by density functional theory (DFT) computations at the gd3bj-B3LYP/def2svp level of theory, the investigation meticulously assessed the performance effic...

This investigation documents that the Rugged Terrain Unit, the Stimson formation, and the Greenheugh sandstone were deposited in a 1200 m-deep lake that formed after the emergence of Mt. Sharp in Gale crater, Mars, nearly 4 billion years ago. In fact, the Curiosity rover traversed on a surface that once was the bottom of this lake and systematicall...

SPONTANEOUS FREE METHANE GAS MIGRATION IN MARINE SEDIMENTS AT HIGH LATITUDES

Pressure, as one of the fundamental thermodynamic parameters, can profoundly change the interatomic distances, electronic interactions, chemical bonding and crystal structures, leading to exotic structures and properties of materials. High-pressure techniques have significantly impacted disciplines like physics, chemistry, geology, and life science...

At the far reaches of the outer Solar System, the ice giants remain the last class of planets yet to be studied using orbiters. The 2023-2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey has underscored the importance of the ice giants in understanding the origin, formation, and evolution of our Solar System. The enormous heliocentric distance of Uranus presen...

CO2 bioeconomy: Creating value from carbon dioxide Is the CO2 bioeconomy creating value from carbon dioxide? Dr Kang Lan Tee and Professor Tuck Seng Wong both explain. Carbon dioxide is frequently portrayed as the villain of climate change. A 50% carbon dioxide content increase in less than 200 years (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

Research in zero or reduced gravity is essential to prepare and support planetary sciences and space exploration. In this study, an instrument specifically designed to measure the settling velocity of sediment particles under normal, hyper-, and reduced gravity conditions is presented. Once operational, it will be used to examine the quality of ana...

The Plasma Environment, Radiation, Structure, and Evolution of the Uranian System (PERSEUS) mission concept defines the feasibility and potential scope of a dedicated, standalone Heliophysics orbiter mission to study multiple space physics science objectives at Uranus. Uranus’s complex and dynamic magnetosphere presents a unique laboratory to study...

The quest for past Martian life hinges on locating surface formations linked to ancient habitability. While Mars' surface is considered to have become cryogenic ~3.7 Ga, stable subsurface aquifers persisted long after this transition. Their extensive collapse triggered megafloods ~3.4 Ga, and the resulting outflow channel excavation generated volum...

The problem of sky pollution with artificial light currently affects practically all branches that are related to the broadly understood environment. This is especially true for astronomical observations. This paper presents the results of measurements of the surface brightness of the night sky for the city of Rzeszów and the surrounding area, whic...

With advancements in low-cost launchers and small interplanetary spacecraft, NASA has recognized the potential of small missions to perform focused planetary science investigations at Mars and Venus. The EscaPADE, part of the NASA SIMPLEx program will deliver two small spacecraft to elliptical orbits around Mars using the Photon spacecraft. Orbit i...

Within our solar system, ice giants such as Uranus have long remained discarded for in-depth research with a dedicated spacecraft mission. Uranus has only been briefly visited by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, whose flybys occurred over 30 years ago. Uranus is an ideal target as it has its own idiosyncrasies-the study of which may answer questions that...

Photoelectric observations of night sky brightness (NSB) at different zenith distances and azimuths, covering all the sky, at the Egyptian Kottamia Astronomical observatory (KAO) site of coordinates ϕ = 29° 55.9′ N and λ = 31° 49.5′ E, were done using a fully automated photoelectric photometer (FAPP). The Bessel wide range system (UBVRI) is used fo...

The response of materials to shock loading is important to planetary science, aerospace engineering, and energetic materials. Thermally activated processes, including chemical reactions and phase transitions, are significantly accelerated by energy localization into hotspots. These result from the interaction of the shockwave with the materials’ mi...

Ely Mencher was born on December 14, 1913, in New York City (USA). He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1934, together with the Ward Medal for outstanding achievement in geology from the City College of New York. His PhD in geology was awarded in December, 1938 in the same institution; and his thesis was related with to the stratigraphy of t...

The demand for surface and sub-surface detection of boulder fields is growing. While being most developed for planetary sciences (e.g. HOOD et. al., 2022), in Earth studies it is mainly useful for offshore spatial planning (e.g., wind farms, platforms, pipelines) and ecosystem research. However, most offshore areas lack high-resolution non-confiden...

The major obstacle to Martian colonization is the mission cost which requires significant reduction. From the structural engineering point of view, importing materials and structural elements from Earth or massive excavations on the surface of Mars require an enormous amount of energy; thus, inflatable and under-surface structures as the main optio...

[To understand the evolution of the Moon, we numerically modeled mantle convection and magmatism in a two‐dimensional polar rectangular mantle. Magmatism occurs as an upward permeable flow of magma generated by decompression melting through the convecting matrix. The mantle is assumed to be initially enriched in heat‐producing elements (HPEs) and c...

We present a study on the source and distribution of plutonium (Pu) in deep sediments (depth: 257 to 3739 m) of the southern Gulf of Mexico. Sediment cores collected from the continental shelf and upper slope region showed 240Pu/239Pu ratios of 0.15 to 0.26, and 239+240Pu-inventories ranging from 14.7 to 33.0 Bq m−2 , which are consistent with thos...

The remnants of explosive volcanism on Mercury have been observed in the form of vents and pyroclastic deposits, termed faculae, using data from the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) onboard the Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry, and ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. Although these features present a wide...

We in this manuscript analyzed the magnetorotational instability (MRI) by using a multi-component quantum fluid model with the effect of spin magnetization in a differentially rotating degenerate electron–positron–ion (e–p–i) quantum plasma. The electrons and positron having the same mass but opposite charge are taken to be degenerate whereas ions...

This is a collection of two Op-Eds that appeared in Future U Forum. The collection is not about any specific scientific research topics. It is about changes in how Universities run and function. That affects scientific research done at Universities, as well as higher education in general (science education being a more specific component). If your...

To the best of our knowledge, the impacts of crop residue cover (CRC) on agricultural productivity and soil fertility have not been studied by previous researchers. In this regard, this study aims to apply an integrated approach of remote sensing and geospatial analysis to detect CRC and monitor the effects of CRC on agricultural productivity, as w...

High-resolution and multi-temporal impervious surface area maps are crucial for capturing rapidly developing urbanization patterns. However, the currently available relevant maps for the greater Mekong subregion suffer from coarse resolution and low accuracy. Addressing this issue, our study focuses on the development of accurate impervious surface...

Description of work ‘Natural Field: Non-local Existence of Matter and Action at a Distance’ – Contemporary Physics which is mostly inherited from twentieth century does not even acknowledge the term ‘‘Non-local Existence of Matter’. ----- It is possible one might argue that curvature of space-time geometry in Einstein’s general theory is already...

Exploring planetary atmospheres, particularly Mars, captivates planetary science. Mars' thin, CO2-rich atmosphere poses a unique puzzle involving composition, climate history, and habitability. Understanding Mars' atmosphere not only reveals insights about the planet but also aids in comprehending atmospheres across the cosmos. This study aims to i...

Thermal moonquakes are recurring seismic signals detected on the lunar surface that are temporally correlated with the lunar day‐night cycle, although their precise mechanism is not known. The Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment (LSPE) was a deployment of four geophones during the Apollo 17 mission to characterize the near‐surface structure of the l...

(99942) Apophis is a potentially hazardous asteroid that will closely approach the Earth on April 13, 2029. Although the likelihood of an impact has been ruled out, this close encounter represents a unique opportunity for planetary science and defense. By investigating the physical and dynamical changes induced by this interaction, valuable insight...

India's space program has made rapid advances in recent decades, with a focus on exploring the Moon through the Chandrayaan series of lunar orbiter missions. Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, was India's first mission to the Moon. Its objectives included high-resolution mineralogical and chemical mapping, searching for surface or sub-surface water i...

This paper deals with an interacting dark energy (DE) model in Locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type I cosmological model with scalar field in the form of an exponential potential. We reduce the transformation equations to an independent system of ordinary differential equations by appropriate alteration of the variables to setup the co...

Analytical instruments or scientific instruments are indispensable for scientific research and industry. The analytical instruments require a detector that converts physical quantities to be measured (measurands) to electric signals. This Tutorial describes the basics of quantum and thermal detectors, the operation principles of superconductor dete...

Understanding the origin(s) of life (OoL) is a fundamental challenge for science in the 21st century. Research on OoL spans many disciplines, including chemistry, physics, biology, planetary sciences, computer science, mathematics and philosophy. The sheer number of different scientific perspectives relevant to the problem has resulted in the coexi...

Heliophysics is the field that ``studies the nature of the Sun, and how it influences the very nature of space - and, in turn, the atmospheres of planetary bodies and the technology that exists there.'' However, NASA's Heliophysics Division tends to limit study of planetary magnetospheres and atmospheres to only those of Earth. This leaves explorat...

The identification of projectile types from impact craters on Moon and Earth have been fascinating subjects for cosmochemists since the Apollo missions (e.g. Professor Emeritus Edward Anders’ former research group from the University of Chicago). See the interview, taped in August 2000 by Ursula Marvin (2001) on Edward Anders interest in meteorites...

Detecting impact craters on the Martian surface is a critical component of studying Martian geomorphology and planetary evolution. Accurately determining impact crater boundaries, which are distinguishable geomorphic units, is important work in geological and geomorphological mapping. The Martian topography is more complex than that of the Moon, ma...

Iridium/Rh mass ratios vs. Ru isotopes (ε100Ru notation) can be used in conjunction with platinum group element (PGE) patterns to more accurately identify cosmic projectile types that impacted Earth, the Moon, Mars, and probably Mercury. The first Ru isotope ratios obtained for samples from the K-Pg boundary layer and the impact craters Brent, Clea...

I would like to inform the readers of the submitted abstract “Impact Craters and the Identification of Projectiles” that, "The program committee felt that the abstract provided insufficient connection to the topic of the meeting (impact craters and cratering processes) and that the abstract would be better submitted to a more general planetary scie...

Fluvial channel belts, the deposits accumulated in rivers surrounded by floodplain deposits, are sensitive environmental recorders. Across Mars, wind has exposed ancient channel belts via the preferential erosion of floodplain strata, creating landforms called fluvial ridges. However, river deposits observed by the Mars rover Curiosity are instead...

Rocks of the lunar granulite suite are the product of high‐temperature metamorphism within the Moon's crust. However, to date, their formation conditions have few constraints. Here, we combine Ti‐in‐pyroxene element diffusion modeling and two‐pyroxene thermometry with thermal modeling of the lunar crust in order to assess potential heat sources tha...

The origin of Mercury's anomalous core and low FeO surface mineralogy are outstanding questions in planetary science. Mercury's composition may result from cosmochemical controls on the precursor solids that accreted to form Mercury. High temperatures and enrichment in solid condensates are likely conditions near the midplane of the inner solar pro...

M-type asteroids may have remanent magnetic fields. Regolith particles on M-type asteroids are likely to have metallic components, causing them to be paramagnetic and respond to an external magnetic field. Paramagnetic particles placed in an external magnetic field are influenced by induced magnetic moments of neighboring particles. Therefore, the...

Nomadic worlds, i.e., objects not gravitationally bound to any star(s), are of great interest to planetary science and astrobiology. They have garnered attention recently due to constraints derived from microlensing surveys and the recent discovery of interstellar planetesimals. In this paper, we roughly estimate the prevalence of nomadic worlds wi...

Introduction: The ease of mobility of planetary rovers is determined not only by the specifications of the rover itself, but also by the physical properties of the local regolith. To determine optimal rover designs and maximize the safety of equipment and personnel on planetary surfaces, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of how diffe...

The origin and transport of water in the early Solar System is an important topic in both astrophysics and planetary science, with applications to protosolar disk evolution, planetary formation, and astrobiology. Of particular interest for understanding primordial water transport are the unequilibrated ordinary chondrites (UOCs), which have been af...

The habitability of Earth-like planets is an increasingly important subject in astrophysics and in planetary sciences. Atmospheric escape plays a vital role in the evolution of the habitability of Earth-like planets. By systematically analyzing the numerical simulation results of the interactions between the planetary atmospheres and the stellar wi...

The signal‐to‐noise ratio received at Earth is typically larger than 10 dB‐Hz for radio tracking of a spacecraft in deep space, allowing a phase‐locked loop to execute reliable carrier tracking. Recently, missions have been proposed to utilize low‐gain antennas for Doppler tracking where the signal‐to‐noise ratio may be at the single‐digit (dB‐Hz)...

We describe the construction of a wide-ranged multiphase equation of state for elemental iron, consisting of four solid phases and one fluid phase. The free-energy models for the phases are constrained by fitting to a broad swath of ambient, static, and dynamic high-pressure experimental data, including recent ramp-compression and shock–ramp recrys...

Machine Learning in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences: Theoretical and Practical Applications is a practical guide on implementing extreme learning machine and neural networks to Earth and environmental data. The book provides guided examples using real world data for numerous novel and mathematically detailed machine learning techniques...