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The term Biosphere Substrate is introduced for celestial bodies, like terrestrial planets or big gas giant moons, suitable to sustain full-scale open biosphere after Terraforming. The purpose of the work is to examine the range of…
The Solar System hosts the most studied and best understood major and minor planetary bodies - and the only extraterrestrial bodies to have been visited by spacecraft. The Solar System therefore provides important constraints on both the…
We report here on an extension of a previous study by Kirsh et al. (2009) of planetesimal-driven migration using our N-body code SyMBA (Duncan et al., 1998). The previous work focused on the case of a single planet of mass Mem, immersed in…
Meeting net-zero targets remains formidable as terrestrial renewables grapple with intermittency and regional variability. Here, we integrate space-based solar power (SBSP) -- a potential near-constant, orbital solar technology -- into a…
A critical step toward the emergence of planets in a protoplanetary disk consists in accretion of planetesimals, bodies 1-1000 km in size, from smaller disk constituents. This process is poorly understood partly because we lack good…
Observational data suggest that a belt of planetesimals is expected close to the snow line in protoplanetary disks. Assuming there is such a belt in TRAPPIST-1 system, we examine possibilities of water delivery to the planets via…
We advocate for the realization of volatile sample return from various destinations including: small bodies, the Moon, Mars, ocean worlds/satellites, and plumes. As part of recent mission studies (e.g., Comet Astrobiology Exploration SAmple…
A planetary system can undergo multiple episodes of intense dynamical activities throughout its life, resulting in the production of star-grazing planetesimals (or exocomets) and pollution of the host star. Such activity is especially…
A review of the results on the migration of celestial bodies in the Solar System and in some exoplanetary systems is presented. Some problems of planet accumulation and migration of planetesimals, small bodies and dust in the forming and…
Future planetary exploration rovers must operate for extended durations on hybrid power inputs that combine steady radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) output with variable solar photovoltaic (PV) availability. While energy-aware…
Planetary migration is a crucial stage in the early solar system, explaining many observational phenomena and providing constraints on details related to the solar system's origins. This paper aims to investigate the acceleration during…
To collect additional solar energy during the hours of darkness and to overcome the limited Terrestrial solar power due to the diurnal day night cycle, the concept of a Geostationary Tethered Collecting Solar Power Satellite System has been…
Past planetary missions have been broad and detailed for Gas Giants, compared to flyby missions for Ice Giants. Presently, a mission to Neptune using electrodynamic tethers is under consideration due to the ability of tethers to provide…
Accumulation of dust and ice particles into planetesimals is an important step in the planet formation process. Planetesimals are the seeds of both terrestrial planets and the solid cores of gas and ice giants forming by core accretion.…
In Cislunar space, spacecraft are able to exploit naturally periodic orbits, which provide operational reliability. However, these periodic orbits only exist in a limited volume. Enabled by low-thrust propulsion, spacecraft can produce a…
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…
The past decade has seen major progress in our understanding of terrestrial planet formation. Yet key questions remain. In this review we first address the growth of 100 km-scale planetesimals as a consequence of dust coagulation and…
We assess the dynamical feasibility of redirecting small volatile-bearing trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) onto Mars-impacting orbits using continuous low-thrust propulsion and a single gravity-assist encounter. The study considers two…
Recent exoplanet observations have revealed a diversity of exoplanetary systems, which suggests the ubiquity of radial planetary migration. One powerful known mechanism of planetary migration is planetesimal-driven migration (PDM), which…
Unexpected clustering in the orbital elements of minor bodies beyond the Kuiper belt has led to speculations that our solar system actually hosts nine planets, the eight established plus a hypothetical "Planet Nine". Several recent studies…