Related papers: Prospective Lava Tubes at Hellas Planitia
A feasibility study was carried out at the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley demonstrating that it is a well-poised site to conduct an upcoming observing campaign aimed at detecting small-size…
A long-standing issue in astrobiology is whether planets orbiting the most abundant type of stars, M-dwarfs, can support liquid water and eventually life. A new study shows that subglacial melting may provide an answer, significantly…
In recent years, there have been a growing number of observations indicating the presence of rocky material in short-period orbits around white dwarfs. In this Letter, we revisit the prospects for habitability around these…
We investigate a simple two-layered viscoelastic rheological model capable of replicating the forced librations of an icy moon with a subsurface ocean. We show that the model, composed only of a prestressed icy crust lying over an effective…
This work investigates a hybrid photovoltaic-wind-battery power system designed to sustain a Mars base under varying seasonal and climatic conditions. The Mars Climate Database was utilized to simulate the effects of seasonal changes,…
The surface of Mars is bombarded by energetic charged particles of solar and cosmic origin with little shielding compared to Earth. As space agencies are planning for crewed missions to the red planet, a major concern is the impact of…
Using well-defined selection criteria applied to the LEDA galaxy catalogue we have constructed a sample of elliptical galaxies that can be taken to lie in the field. Such criteria can easily be applied to theoretical simulations for direct…
The lunar geological record is expected to contain a rich record of the galactic environment of the Solar System, including records of nearby (i.e. less than a few tens of parsecs) supernova explosions. This record will be composed of two…
Meteor and bolide phenomena caused by the atmospheric ablation of incoming meteoroids are predicted to occur at the planet Venus. Their systematic observation would allow to measure and compare the sub-mm to m meteoroid flux at different…
We report recent observations of lava lakes within patera on Io made by the JIRAM imager/spectrometer on board the Juno spacecraft, taken during close observation occurred in the extended mission. At least 40 lava lakes have been identified…
The eruption of multiple flux tubes in a magnetised plasma atmosphere is proposed as a mechanism for explosive release of energy in plasmas. Linearly stable isolated flux tubes are shown to be metastable in a box model magnetised atmosphere…
Mars is the only planet, other than Earth, for which there are several evidences that liquid water was abundant at the surface. Among them, one of the best evidence is that the ancient terrains of Mars are covered with fluvial and…
The magma ocean concept was first conceived to explain the geology of the Moon, but hemispherical or global oceans of silicate melt could be a widespread "lava world" phase of rocky planet accretion, and could persist on planets on…
A 52'X52' field in the Lupus Galactic plane was observed with the ANU 1m telescope for 53 nights during 2005 and 2006 in a search for transiting Hot Jupiter planets. A total of 2200 images were obtained. We have sampled 120,000 stars via…
The Moon's permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) are among the coldest places in the Solar System and are expected to become key landing sites for upcoming international space agency missions. Their proximity to peaks of perpetual solar power…
The aim of my dissertation is to investigate habitability in extra-Solar Systems. Most of the time, only planets are considered as possible places where extraterrestrial life can emerge and evolve, however, their moons could be inhabited,…
Galactic microlensing has the capability to determine the position angle of the detected planets in a sky reference frame. By a broad enough statistics, it is possible to investigate possible anisotropies in the distribution of the orbital…
We explore the likelihood that early remains of Earth, Mars, and Venus have been preserved on the Moon in high enough concentrations to motivate a search mission. During the Late Heavy Bombardment, the inner planets experienced frequent…
A major challenge for extended human spaceflights in deep space is the dangerous exposure to space radiation. In previous studies aluminium has been used as a multilayer shielding material in GCR space radiation environment with high dose…
In recent years, the Moon has emerged as an unparalleled extraterrestrial testbed for advancing cuttingedge technological and scientific research critical to enabling sustained human presence on its surface and supporting future…