Search Publications
Global surficial water content stored in hydrated silicates at Mars from OMEGA/MEx
Poulet, François; Cardesín-Moinelo, Alejandro; Martin, Patrick +2 more
Assessing the water content at the surface of Mars is key to understand the history of water and past climate of the planet but it also is very important for future exploration and potential In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Numerous locations on the surface, known to harbor hydrated minerals, have been detected and their mineralogical assembla…
A race against the clock: Constraining the timing of cometary bombardment relative to Earth's growth
Nesvorný, David; Avice, Guillaume; Raymond, Sean N. +3 more
Comets are considered a potential source of inner solar system volatiles, but the timing of this delivery relative to that of Earth's accretion is still poorly understood. Measurements of xenon isotopes in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed that comets partly contributed to the Earth's atmosphere. However, there is no conclusive evidence of …
Subglacial catastrophic-flood origin of linear and curvilinear flat-rimmed pit chains on Mars: Evidence from geomorphological mapping and detailed landsystem analysis
Yin, An; Kakaria, Reva
Flat-rimmed pits lacking emanating flow-like features on pit margins are typically clustered as linear or curvilinear chains on Mars. Their formation has been attributed to faulting, volcanism, or roof collapse of subsurface voids. Here we test these end-member models by conducting landform analysis and systematic geomorphological mapping in the c…
Chicxulub-like Gale impact into an ocean/land interface on Mars: An explanation for the formation of Mount Sharp
Dohm, James M.; Williams, Jean-Pierre; Fink, Wolfgang +2 more
A geologic investigation of Gale Crater and surrounding terrain was conducted combining orbital data with reported in situ information collected through the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL Curiosity) rover cameras to better explain the anomalous features in and nearby Gale Crater with the primary focus being the formational history of Aeolis Mons, in…
A new shape model of the bilobate comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Chen, Min; Huang, Xianfeng; Yan, Jianguo +2 more
In this article, we performed the stereo-photogrammetric processing on over 5200 Rosetta/OSIRIS-NAC images to derive a global high-resolution 3D model of the bilobate comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is visually richer and more convincing than the existing models (i.e., SPG-SHAP4S, SPC-SHAP5 and SPG-SHAP7). This shape model was used to gener…
The Bolometric Bond Albedo of Enceladus
West, Robert A.; Nixon, Conor A.; Fry, Patrick M. +13 more
The bolometric Bond albedo is a fundamental parameter of planets and moons. Here, combined observations from the Cassini spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope are used to determine the bolometric Bond albedo of Enceladus. We provide the full-disk reflectance of Enceladus across all phase angles (0° -180°) from 150 nm to 5131 nm, a spectral ran…
Spatial and temporal distribution of sinuous ridges in southeastern Terra Sabaea and the northern region of Hellas Planitia, Mars☆
Williams, Rebecca M. E.; Anderson, Ryan B.; Gullikson, Amber L.
Sinuous ridges are an important yet understudied component of Mars' hydrologic history. We have produced a map of sinuous ridges, valleys and channels, and tectonic ridges across southeastern Terra Sabaea and into northern Hellas Planitia (10°-45° S, 35°-80° E) using a CTX mosaic. Although we mapped different types of ridges and negative relief fe…
Topographical analysis of a candidate subglacial water region in Ultimi Scopuli, Mars
Mitri, Giuseppe; Genova, Antonio; Sulcanese, Davide +3 more
Radar signals of the MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding) instrument at the base of the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD) in the region known as Ultimi Scopuli, on Mars, have been interpreted as reflections from putative subglacial standing bodies of liquid water. The interpretation of the MARSIS radar signals is n…
The formation of cone chains in the Chryse Planitia region on Mars and the thermodynamic aspects of this process
Czechowski, Leszek; Zalewska, Natalia; Zambrowska, Anita +3 more
This paper considers a small region in Chryse Planitia where several subparallel chains of cones are observed. Despite many papers on small Martian cones, the mechanism of their formation is not unequivocally explained, nor the reason for their arrangement in subparallel chains. In this paper, we test a few hypotheses stating that most of the cone…
Observations of a dust tail gap in comet C/2014 Q1 (PanSTARRS)
Afghan, Qasim; Jones, Geraint H.; Price, Oliver +1 more
Cometary dust tails display a wide array of structures, most believed to be caused by a variable dust production, size distributions, fragmentation processes, and interactions with the solar wind, e.g. Price et al. (2019). However, not all these structures are fully understood. Here we report the discovery of a curious new dust tail feature, first…