Search Publications
Study of the exosphere of Mercury with the PHEBUS spectrograph on the BepiColombo mission
Robidel, Rozenn
Mercury is the least explored of the inner planets, only three spacecraft have explored it. Mariner 10 observed the planet during three close encounters in 1974 and 1975, unveiling a very thin atmosphere surrounding the planet, somewhat similar to that of the Moon, including hydrogen (H) and helium (He). Sodium (Na), potassium (K) and calcium (Ca)…
X-ray Spectroscopy at Mercury with the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer
Hall, Graeme
In December 2025, the joint ESA and JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft will enter orbit around Mercury to begin a two-year mission. Among the 16 instruments aboard BepiColombo is the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS), which offers high-resolution (~10 km per pixel) imaging capabilities for low-energy (0-10 keV) X-ray photons. This information wil…
Étude des signatures aqueuses martiennes par spectroscopie infrarouge : des nuages à l'altération des régions polaires
Stcherbinine, Aurélien
Study of Martian aqueous signature through infrared spectroscopy: from clouds to polar regions alteration
On Mars, the major infrared signature of the surface consists of a broad absorption band at 3 µm. It is mainly associated with the presence of H2O molecules or –OH groups and provides insight about the presence of water ice and the hydrat…NOMAD/TGO and PFS/MEx joint analysis for the retrieval of trace gases in the Martian atmosphere
Nardi, Luca
Small scale disturbances in the lower dayside ionosphere of Mars as seen by the MaRS radio science experiment on Mars Express
Peter, Kerstin
Modeling the cometary environment using a fluid approach
Shou, Yinsi
Comets are believed to have preserved the building material of the early solar system and to hold clues to the origin of life on Earth. Abundant remote observations of comets by telescopes and the in-situ measurements by a handful of space missions reveal that the cometary environments are complicated by various physical and chemical processes amo…
The sun's influence on the vertical structure of the ionospheres of Venus and Mars
Girazian, Zachary Richard James
The ionospheres of Venus and Mars are important components of the planet-space boundary that play a major role in atmospheric escape processes. Characterization of these regions reveals the physical processes that control them and provides a foundation for more detailed studies of chemistry, dynamics, and energetics. At both planets the ionosphere…
Observing the Unobservable: Identification and Characterisation of Stealth Coronal Mass Ejections
D'Huys, Elke
In this doctoral thesis we study stealth CMEs: solar coronal mass ejections that are clearly observed in coronagraph data but do not show significant low-coronal or on-disk signatures of eruption. This lack of coronal signatures makes it challenging to determine their source region and predict their trajectory throughout interplanetary space. Comb…
Analyzing the interstellar neutral He bulk flow parameters with IBEX-Lo
Leonard, Trevor W.
Our Sun is immersed in a local galactic environment which is composed of a warm, dilute, and partially ionized gas. Due to the Sun's motion relative to this environment, the interstellar neutral (ISN) gas flows through the heliosphere providing the opportunity to perform in-situ observations of the ISN gas from Earth's orbit. The Interstellar Boun…
The effects of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and co-rotating interaction regions on the Venusian 5577 A oxygen green line
Gray, Candace
The Venusian 5577.3 A OI (1S - 1D) (oxygen green line) nightglow emission is known to be highly temporally variable. The reason for this variability is unknown. We propose that the emission is due to electron precipitation from intense solar storms. For my dissertation, I observed the Venusian green line after solar flares, coronal mass ejections …