Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
V Curin, P. Broz, E. Hauber, Y. Markonis
Summary: Researchers have mapped and classified unique landforms on Mars, determining that they were formed by subsurface sediment mobilization. They propose that the sediment likely originated from the same source and suggest the possibility of previously unconsidered sequences of events leading to sedimentary-volcanic activity within Adamas Labyrinthus.
News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexandra Witze
Summary: NASA's InSight mission has provided the first data on the internal structure of a planet other than Earth, revealing surprising cake-like layers in the crust of Mars.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Emmanuel Leger, Albane Saintenoy, Christophe Grenier, Antoine Sejourne, Eric Pohl, Frederic Bouchard, Marc Pessel, Kirill Bazhin, Kencheeri Danilov, Francois Costard, Claude Mugler, Alexander Fedorov, Ivan Khristoforov, Pavel Konstantinov
Summary: This paper investigates the impact of global temperature rising on the river-valley system in Syrdakh, Yakutia, Eastern Siberia, where intense permafrost thawing has major consequences on water resources. Various tools, including in-situ temperature measurements, geophysical imaging, and numerical simulations, were used to study this area. The results show that the river has a significant thermal influence on the permafrost and active layer, and water plays a predominant role in this complex system. This research provides insights for understanding the evolution of the permafrost-river system.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Marta Ciazela, Jakub Ciazela, Bartosz Pieterek
Summary: Thermal inertia represents the resistance to temperature change on the surface, and a new analytical method based on ATI has been proposed for thermal mapping, showing the significant influence of slope and aspect on albedo and diurnal temperature differences.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Leszek Czechowski, Natalia Zalewska, Anita Zambrowska, Marta Ciazela, Piotr Witek, Jan Kotlarz
Summary: This paper investigates a small region in Chryse Planitia where several subparallel chains of cones are observed. The authors propose that most of these cones are formed by outgassing of Martian regolith due to a decrease in atmospheric pressure. Magma heating may also play a role, but its impact is limited. The subparallel chains of cones can be formed above various linear structures, such as aquifers, outcrops, fissures, and heat sources. Thermal advection could transport heat and facilitate the rapid loss of volatiles. The researchers also suggest that similar processes may have occurred in other regions of Chryse Planitia based on their observation of similar structures.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
K. Dapre, J. C. E. Irving
Summary: This study investigates the effects of ice shell and ocean thickness, as well as core structure and composition, on the waveforms recorded by a single seismometer for three 1D models of Enceladus. The results suggest that core-transmitted and -reflected phases can be observed even at low epicentral distances, providing constraints on ocean depth and core structure.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Michael D. Smith, Khalid Badri, Samuel A. Atwood, Christopher S. Edwards, Philip R. Christensen, Michael J. Wolff, Tanguy Bertrand, Francois Forget, Eman Al Tunaiji, Christopher Wolfe, Nathan Smith, Saadat Anwar
Summary: Thermal infrared spectra taken by EMIRS on the EMM spacecraft are useful for retrieving surface temperatures, atmospheric temperature profiles, and column abundance of dust aerosols, water ice clouds, and water vapor. A retrieval algorithm that includes multiple scattering has been developed, and first atmospheric science results have shown extensive water ice clouds and the expected transport of water vapor. An unusually strong and early regional dust storm and its thermal response were also observed.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Alister B. Cunje, Andrew J. Dombard, Eldar Z. Noe Dobrea
Summary: The study focuses on the shallow craters ranging from 200 m to 1 km in diameter in the cold, northern high-latitudes around the Phoenix landing site. These craters could provide insights into the subsurface ice content of the region. The researchers used finite element modeling to determine if these craters are indicative of topographic relaxation due to substantial ice in the subsurface. The findings suggest that there may be a higher abundance of ice in the region than currently estimated.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
R. E. Maxwell, F. Nimmo
Summary: We estimate the elastic thickness of different regions on the Moon using admittance analysis of GRAIL gravity and LOLA topography data. Reliable results are obtained mainly on the lunar farside, away from large mare deposits. Our findings show that the elastic thickness ranges from 13 km to 72 km, with an average value of 29 km. The highest elastic thicknesses are found to the northwest of South Pole-Aitken basin, while the lowest elastic thicknesses are found in the equatorial farside and within the basin itself. The loading history of the Moon suggests that most of the loading occurred within the first 200 million years after the solidification of the lunar magma ocean, but some areas may have recorded events as late as 3.5 billion years ago.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sebastien Le Maistre, Attilio Rivoldini, Alfonso Caldiero, Marie Yseboodt, Rose-Marie Baland, Mikael Beuthe, Tim Van Hoolst, Veronique Dehant, William M. Folkner, Dustin Buccino, Daniel Kahan, Jean-Charles Marty, Daniele Antonangeli, James Badro, Melanie Drilleau, Alex Konopliv, Marie-Julie Peters, Ana-Catalina Plesa, Henri Samuel, Nicola Tosi, Mark Wieczorek, Philippe Lognonne, Mark Panning, Suzanne Smrekar, W. Bruce Banerdt
Summary: Knowledge of the interior structure and atmosphere of Mars is essential for understanding the planet's formation and evolution. The NASA InSight mission provided seismic and lander radio science data, which allowed us to determine the core, mantle, and atmosphere properties of Mars. Our analysis found a liquid core with specific dimensions and density, and no evidence of a solid inner core. We also discovered internal mass anomalies within the mantle and observed a slow acceleration in the Martian rotation rate.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
A. Broquet, J. C. Andrews-Hanna
Summary: This study investigates the tectonic and geophysical features of Hesperia Planum, a volcanic plain covered by wrinkle ridges. The research reveals that the region exhibits a high density of wrinkle ridges and a larger compressional strain compared to typical Hesperian strains. By introducing a loading sequence of crustal loading and volcanism, the study proposes a model to explain the characteristics of Hesperia Planum, including crustal thinning, low relief, and their correlation with wrinkle ridges and magnetic anomalies. The results suggest that scattered mantle plumes may be responsible for the formation of Hesperia Planum and other volcanic provinces within the highlands.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
G. M. Martinez, E. Sebastian, A. Vicente-Retortillo, M. D. Smith, J. R. Johnson, E. Fischer, H. Savijarvi, D. Toledo, R. Hueso, L. Mora-Sotomayor, H. Gillespie, A. Munguira, A. Sanchez-Lavega, M. T. Lemmon, F. Gomez, J. Polkko, L. Mandon, V. Apestigue, I. Arruego, M. Ramos, P. Conrad, C. E. Newman, M. de la Torre-Juarez, F. Jordan, L. K. Tamppari, T. H. McConnochie, A. -M. Harri, M. Genzer, M. Hieta, M. -P. Zorzano, M. Siegler, O. Prieto, A. Molina, J. A. Rodriguez-Manfredi
Summary: The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) on board Perseverance includes first-of-its-kind sensors to measure various radiation fluxes on Mars surface. Using these measurements and ground temperature data, the study determines the radiative budget and broadband albedo of Mars, as well as calculates the thermal inertia of homogeneous terrains. The study also compares the results with other measurements to validate model predictions and provide ground-truth data.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tyler Stumpf, Daniel P. Bigman, Dominic J. Day
Summary: The study aimed to use GPR to identify buried historic features at Fort Stanwix National Monument in order for park management to preserve these resources and develop educational programming and management plans. The GPR recorded reflection events consistent with historic structures, with differences in size, shape, orientation, and depth indicating different time periods in the site's history. Additional information is needed to interpret the reflection anomalies, highlighting the importance of pairing geophysical data with limited excavations to elaborate on a complex site's history.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
J. Bapst, S. Piqueux, C. S. Edwards, C. Wolfe, P. O. Hayne, D. M. Kass, A. Kleinbohl
Summary: The climate of Mars is affected by recurring dust storm events, which result in dust being lifted from the surface and transported by the atmosphere. The study uses global observations of surface temperature and albedo to analyze changes in dust coverage and thickness. The results suggest that dust thickness changes during global dust storms are minimal and support the existence of infinite dust reservoirs on Mars.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
S. Maurice, B. Chide, N. Murdoch, R. D. Lorenz, D. Mimoun, R. C. Wiens, A. Stott, X. Jacob, T. Bertrand, F. Montmessin, N. L. Lanza, C. Alvarez-Llamas, S. M. Angel, M. Aung, J. Balaram, O. Beyssac, A. Cousin, G. Delory, O. Forni, T. Fouchet, O. Gasnault, H. Grip, M. Hecht, J. Hoffman, J. Laserna, J. Lasue, J. Maki, J. McClean, P. -y. Meslin, S. Le Mouelic, A. Munguira, C. E. Newman, J. A. Rodriguez Manfredi, J. Moros, A. Ollila, P. Pilleri, S. Schroder, M. de la Torre Juarez, T. Tzanetos, K. M. Stack, K. Farley, K. Williford
Summary: The acoustic environment on Mars was unknown before the Perseverance rover landing. This study presents the first characterization of the acoustic environment on Mars using Perseverance microphone recordings, providing important data for atmospheric studies.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Maria Angeles Lopez-Cayuela, Maria-Paz Zorzano, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado, Carmen Cordoba-Jabonero
Summary: The atmospheric dust cycle on Mars plays a dominant role in the planetary radiative balance, atmospheric photochemistry escape, and redistribution of materials on the surface. A methodology is presented to accurately describe the annual dust redistribution cycle on Mars using orbital global and seasonal measurements of atmospheric dust opacity. The analysis shows that approximately 4 trillion kilograms of dust is transported globally in the atmosphere during a typical Mars year.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Audrey Vorburger, Shahab Fatemi, Shane R. Carberry Mogan, Andre Galli, Lucas Liuzzo, Andrew R. Poppe, Lorenz Roth, Peter Wurz
Summary: The study presents new model results for the composition of Ganymede's atmosphere, finding that sublimation remains the major source process for H2O, while radiolysis induced by auroral electrons dominates the source fluxes for O2 and H2.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Qi He, Zhi Cao, Yuqi Qian, Hejiu Hui, Ioannis Baziotis, Long Xiao, Zaicong Wang, Biji Luo, Yiheng Li, Zongjun Ying, Yang Li
Summary: The Chang'e-5 mission collected lunar soil containing magnesian troctolitic granulites, which provide valuable information on the composition of the lunar crust. Through analysis and modeling, it is suggested that these granulites may have originated from the Pythagoras crater and were transported to the landing site.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Jordan M. Bretzfelder, Kathryn M. Stack, Abigail A. Fraeman, Mackenzie Day, William E. Dietrich, Alexander B. Bryk
Summary: This study investigates the development of bedrock ridges on Mars and their implications for wind history, deposition, and erosion in Gale crater.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lot Ram, Diptiranjan Rout, Rahul Rathi, Paul Withers, Sumanta Sarkhel
Summary: This study investigates the impacts of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) on the Martian ionosphere, specifically the behavior of the ionospheric peak density and height during ICME passages. The study used observations from the Radio Occultation Science Experiment (ROSE) aboard the MAVEN spacecraft and selected 8 ICMEs from existing catalogs. The results show that ICMEs lead to an elevation of the ionospheric peak height and a decrease in peak density, and propose that vertical pressure gradient and electron temperature enhancement are plausible causes for ionospheric variability.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Benoit Jabaud, Riccardo Artoni, Gabriel Tobie, Erwan Le Menn, Patrick Richard
Summary: The Cassini spacecraft discovered active jets of water vapour and ice grains at the South Pole of Enceladus, resulting in the deposit of freshly erupted materials on the moon's icy surface. Similar processes may be happening on Europa as well. Determining the mechanical properties of fresh icy powder-like materials is essential for future landing and sampling missions. The flowability and surface energy of ice powders decrease with increasing temperatures, which may have implications for stable landing and the flow of ice materials on Enceladus and Europa.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Lydie Bonal, Eric Quirico, Gilles Montagnac, Mutsumi Komatsu, Yoko Kebukawa, Hikaru Yabuta, Kana Amano, Jens Barosch, Laure Bejach, George D. Cody, Emmanuel Dartois, Alexandre Dazzi, Bradley De Gregorio, Ariane Deniset-Besseau, Jean Duprat, Cecile Engrand, Minako Hashiguchi, Kanami Kamide, David Kilcoyne, Zita Martins, Jeremie Mathurin, Smail Mostefaoui, Larry Nittler, Takuji Ohigashi, Taiga Okumura, Laurent Remusat, Scott Sandford, Miho Shigenaka, Rhonda Stroud, Hiroki Suga, Yoshio Takahashi, Yasuo Takeichi, Yusuke Tamenori, Maximilien Verdier-Paoletti, Shohei Yamashita, Tomoki Nakamura, Hiroshi Naraoka, Takaaki Noguchi, Ryuji Okazaki, Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Shogo Tachibana, Masanao Abe, Akiko Miyazaki, Aiko Nakato, Satoru Nakazawa, Masahiro Nishimura, Tatsuaki Okada, Takanao Saiki, Kanako Sakamoto, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Yuichi Tsuda, Tomohiro Usui, Sei-ichiro Watanabe, Toru Yada, Kasumi Yogata, Makota Yoshikawa
Summary: This paper focuses on characterizing the thermal history of asteroid Ryugu by studying the structure of polyaromatic carbonaceous matter in the returned samples. The study finds that there is no structural difference in the polyaromatic component between the two sampling sites on Ryugu, indicating that the thermal metamorphism related to radioactive decay was not significant. However, some structural variability is observed within the particle set.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
M. Luginin, A. Fedorova, D. Belyaev, F. Montmessin, O. Korablev, J. -l. Bertaux
Summary: Spectroscopic solar occultation measurements by the SPICAV/SOIR instrument onboard the Venus Express orbiter provided new data on the upper haze aerosol properties, its distribution, and variations. A joint analysis of data from two spectrometers revealed a bimodal distribution in about 50% of observations previously believed to be unimodal, and characterized the size distribution 10 km higher in the atmosphere compared to previous analysis.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
A. Mahieux, S. Viscardy, K. L. Jessup, F. P. Mills, L. Trompet, S. Robert, S. Aoki, A. Piccialli, A. C. Vandaele
Summary: We report on the mean upper limit number densities and volume concentrations of H2CO, O-3, NH3, HCN, N2O, NO2, NO, and HO2 at the Venus terminator above the cloud layer. Attempts to detect these species using a statistical algorithm and the method presented by Trompet et al. (2021) were unsuccessful, and upper limits of detection are provided.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
P. M. Streeter, S. R. Lewis, M. R. Patel, J. A. Holmes, K. Rajendran
Summary: The northern polar vortex on Mars shows a high degree of interannual repeatability in its structure and evolution, except during large dust storms. The seasonal timing of these storms seems to be the key factor determining their impacts on the polar vortex.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Michael T. Mellon, Hanna G. Sizemore, Jennifer L. Heldmann, Christopher P. McKay, Carol R. Stoker
Summary: The search for life is a major focus of Mars exploration, with temperature and water activity being key factors for habitability. The most recent habitable conditions occurred about 510 kyrs ago and lasted for about 10s of kyrs each occurrence. All latitudes offer potential for life exploration, but middle-latitude sites have access to 100-kyr-old ice that experienced past habitable conditions, while high-latitude sites offer access to ancient ice over 1 Myrs old.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Anthony Ozerov, Jeffrey C. Smith, Jessie L. Dotson, Randolph S. Longenbaugh, Robert L. Morris
Summary: The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instruments, with their large combined field of view, are useful for studying the population of atmospheric phenomena like bolides. However, there are biases when using GLM for non-lightning purposes, which need to be studied and accounted for before precise measurements of bolide flux can be obtained. A Bayesian Poisson regression model was developed to estimate instrumental biases and the latitudinal variation of bolide flux concurrently. The estimated bias corresponds to the known sensitivity of the GLM instruments, and the latitudinal flux variation estimates are consistent with a strong bias towards high-velocity bolides, as compared to existing theoretical models.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
P. Beck, P. Y. Meslin, A. Fau, O. Forni, O. Gasnault, J. Lasue, A. Cousin, S. Schroeder, S. Maurice, W. Rapin, R. C. Wiens, A. M. Ollila, E. Dehouck, N. Mangold, B. Garcia, S. Schwartz, W. Goetz, N. Lanza
Summary: Analysis of data obtained by ChemCam on Mars reveals that the carbon signal is mainly related to ionization of the atmosphere, with variability potentially linked to the physical state of the atmosphere. Up to sol 3355, no carbonate was detected in the ChemCam dataset, suggesting that it is not a major constituent (>50%) in the analyzed targets and that carbon in soils is not enriched beyond the limit of detection. The dominant salts found in Gale are sulfate and chlorides, while the absence of carbonates, seen in Jezero, may be due to differences in protolith.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eloy Pena-Asensio, Jaakko Visuri, Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez, Hector Socas-Navarro, Maria Gritsevich, Markku Siljama, Albert Rimola
Summary: The observation of interstellar objects 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov suggests the existence of a larger population of smaller projectiles that impact our planet with unbound orbits. A statistical evaluation of uncertainties in the CNEOS database and study of its hyperbolic fireballs reveals an anisotropic geocentric radiant distribution and low orbital inclinations, challenging the assumption of a randomly incoming interstellar population. These findings suggest that apparent interstellar meteors may, in fact, be the result of accelerated meteoroid impacts caused by close encounters with massive objects within or passing through our solar system.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cecilia W. S. Leung, Leslie K. Tamppari, David M. Kass, German Martinez, Erik Fischer, Michael D. Smith
Summary: Using a combination of orbital and surface observations, this study investigates the vertical distribution of water vapor in the lower atmospheres of Mars. The findings suggest that the assumption of uniformly mixed water vapor in the boundary layer is not always consistent with observational constraints. The results provide important insights into the seasonal transport of water and the role of regolith-atmospheric exchange.