Related papers: Micro Cold Traps on the Moon
The early thermal evolution of Moon has been numerically simulated to understand the magnitude of the impact induced heating and the initially stored thermal energy of the accreting Moonlets. The main objective of the present study is to…
The presence of the ancient valley networks on Mars indicates that the climate at 3.8 Ga was warm enough to allow substantial liquid water to flow on the martian surface for extended periods of time. However, the mechanism for producing…
Thermo-osmotic flow around a microparticle in a liquid is characterized by observing and analyzing the distribution of tiny particles, i.e., tracers, near the microparticle's surface. First, an optical trapping laser is used to localize the…
The Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that the Moon is the province of all mankind, with the latter ordinarily understood to exclude state or private appropriation of any portion of its surface. However, there are indeterminacies in the…
The evidence for abundant liquid water on early Mars despite the faint young Sun is a long-standing problem in planetary research. Here we present new ab initio spectroscopic and line-by-line climate calculations of the warming potential of…
Water ice has been detected in several supernova remnants despite the strong heating and radiation in these environments. This challenges standard expectations for dust survival. Using two dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we…
Images from instruments on Cassini as well as from telescopes on the ground reveal the presence of sporadic small-scale cloud activity in the cold late-winter north polar of Saturn's large moon Titan. These clouds lie underneath the…
Microscopic liquid brines, especially calcium-perchlorate could emerge by deliquescence on Mars during night time hours. Using climate model computations and orbital humidity observations, the ideal periods and their annual plus daily…
By mid-19th century, astronomers strongly suspected that the Moon was largely dry and airless, based on the absence of any observable weather. In 1892, William H. Pickering made a series of careful occultation measurements that allowed him…
The enhancement of a cryogenic radio frequency 22 pole trap instrument by the addition of ring electrodes is presented in detail. The ring electrodes tightly surround the poles and only a fraction of the applied electric potential…
Mars' wet-to-dry transition is a major environmental catastrophe, yet the spatial pattern, tempo, and cause of drying are poorly constrained. We built a globally-distributed database of constraints on Mars late-stage paleolake size relative…
The Lunar Prospector mission detected hydrogen-containing compounds in the lunar polar regions. We have considered the comet hypothesis of the origin of polar volatiles on the Moon. In the present paper we use our model of a comet impact…
In this paper we explore the effectiveness of an artificial mini-magnetosphere as a potential radiation shelter for long term human space missions. Our study includes the differences that the plasma environment makes to the efficiency of…
We present designs for multipole ion traps based on a set of planar, annular, concentric electrodes which require only rf potentials to confine ions. We illustrate the desirable properties of the traps by considering a few simple cases of…
Transmission spectroscopy is a powerful technique widely used to probe exoplanet terminators. Atmospheric retrievals of transmission spectra are enabling comparative studies of exoplanet atmospheres. However, the atmospheric properties…
Early Mars climate research has well-defined goals (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group 2018). Achieving these goals requires geologists and climate modelers to coordinate. Coordination is easier if results are expressed in terms of…
The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has monitored the Martian environment in Gale crater since landing in 2012. This study reports the record of optical depth derived from visible and near-infrared images of the Sun. Aerosol optical…
Terrestrial-type exoplanets orbiting nearby red dwarf stars (M-dwarfs) are among the best targets for atmospheric characterization and biosignature searches in the near future. Recent evolutionary studies have suggested that terrestrial…
We present the first systematic study of clouds observed during twilight on Mars. We analyze images obtained by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Mars Express between 2007 and 2020. Using an automated retrieval algorithm we found 407…
There are many indications that anthropogenic global warming poses a serious threat to our civilization and its ecological support systems. Ideally this problem will be overcome by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Various space-based…