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AMBITION - comet nucleus cryogenic sample return

Henri, Pierre; Bianchi, Eleonora; Codella, Claudio +27 more

We describe the AMBITION project, a mission to return the first-ever cryogenically-stored sample of a cometary nucleus, that has been proposed for the ESA Science Programme Voyage 2050. Comets are the leftover building blocks of giant planet cores and other planetary bodies, and fingerprints of Solar System's formation processes. We summarise some…

Cometary plasma science

Gunell, H.; Glassmeier, K. -H.; Andre, N. +27 more

Comets hold the key to the understanding of our Solar System, its formation and its evolution, and to the fundamental plasma processes at work both in it and beyond it. A comet nucleus emits gas as it is heated by the sunlight. The gas forms the coma, where it is ionised, becomes a plasma, and eventually interacts with the solar wind. Besides thes…