Related papers: Creation of Lunar-Like Rims in Ilmenite using Synt…
Context. Identifying minerals on asteroid surfaces is difficult as space weathering modifies the minerals infrared spectra. This shouldbe better understood for proper interpretation. Aims. We simulated the space weathering effects on a…
In the pursuit of lunar exploration and the investigation of water presence on the lunar surface, a comprehensive understanding of plasma-surface interactions is crucial since the regolith's space weathering can create H$_2$O. However, the…
We investigate the influence of lunar-like satellites on the infrared orbital light curves of Earth-analog extra-solar planets. Such light curves will be obtained by NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and ESA's Darwin missions as a…
A prominent manifestation of the solar dynamo is the 11-year activity cycle, evident in indicators of solar activity, including solar irradiance. Although a relationship between solar activity and the brightness of the Sun had long been…
The amount and distribution of water on the lunar surface are related to the input and production of water by solar wind and meteoroid bombardment, balanced by photodestruction and mobility across the surface. Using the Stratospheric…
Impact flashes on the moon are caused by high-speed collisions of celestial bodies with the lunar surface. The study of the impacts is critical for exploring the evolutionary history and formation of the Moon, and for quantifying the risk…
Low radio frequency experiments performed on Earth are contaminated by both ionospheric effects and radio frequency interference (RFI) from Earth-based sources. The lunar farside provides a unique environment above the ionosphere where RFI…
The relative motion of two interpenetrating streams of charged particles usually leads to the generation of two stream instability (TSI) and eventually result in the onset of non-linear plasma processes such as the turbulence or the plasma…
One of the main complications for the interpretation of reflectance spectra of airless planetary bodies is surface alteration by space weathering caused by irradiation by solar wind and micrometeoroid particles. We aim to evaluate the…
The ion-sputtering (IS) process is active in many planetary environments in the Solar System where plasma precipitates directly on the surface (for instance, Mercury, Moon, Europa). In particular, solar-wind sputtering is one of the most…
Current lunar origin scenarios suggest that Earth's Moon may have resulted from the merger of two (or more) smaller moonlets. Dynamical studies of multiple moons find that these satellite systems are not stable, resulting in moonlet…
We calculate the flux of neutral solar wind observed on the lunar surface at the terminator due to solar wind protons penetrating exospheric dust grains with (1) radii greater than 0.1 microns and (2) radii greater than 0.01 microns. For…
The mechanical properties of minerals in planetary materials are not only interesting from a fundamental point of view but also critical to the development of future space missions. Here we present nanoindentation experiments to evaluate…
The Moon is generally thought to have formed from the debris ejected by the impact of a planet-sized object with the proto-Earth towards the end of planetary accretion. Modeling of the impact process predicts that the lunar material was…
The Moon is traditionally thought to have coalesced from the debris ejected by a giant impact onto the early Earth. However, such models struggle to explain the similar isotopic compositions of Earth and lunar rocks at the same time as the…
The Moon holds important clues to the early evolution of the Solar System. Some 50 impact basins (crater diameter D>300 km) have been recognized on the lunar surface, implying that the early impact flux was much higher than it is now. The…
The solar wind wake behind the moon is studied with 1D electrostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations using a physical ion to electron mass ratio (unlike prior investigations); the simulations also apply more generally to supersonic flow…
In the companion paper ("Erosion rate of lunar soil under a landing rocket, part 1: identifying the rate-limiting physics", this issue) an equation was developed for the rate that lunar soil erodes under the exhaust of a landing rocket.…
Given the rarity of significant solar flares compared to smaller ones, training effective machine learning models for solar activity forecasting is challenging due to insufficient data. This study proposes using generative deep learning…
Mercury, due to its close location to the Sun, is surrounded by an environment whose conditions may be considered as "extreme" in the entire Solar System. Both solar wind and radiation are stronger with respect to other Solar System bodies,…