Search Publications
Dust at the Martian moons and in the circummartian space
Witasse, Olivier; Cipriani, Fabrice; Zakharov, Alexander +2 more
The paper provides the current understanding of the dust particle dynamics near the surface and in the circummatrian space of the Martian moons based on existing models developed for airless and non-magnetized bodies. In particular we discuss the response of the regolith of the Martian moons to exposure to radiation, the dynamics of charged dust o…
Collecting cometary dust particles on metal blacks with the COSIMA instrument onboard ROSETTA
Krüger, Harald; Langevin, Yves; Fischer, Henning +8 more
After a brief review of the instrument development and materials selection for collecting cometary dust in the vicinity of comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko we focus on laboratory verification for the capability of metal black targets to decelerate and capture dust particles (velocities in the order of 100 m/s; sizes of some 10 µm). The resul…
Character and origin of Phobos’ grooves
Heggie, D. C.; Murray, J. B.
Phobos’ parallel grooves, which are such a striking feature of its surface, have attracted interest since their discovery on Viking images in 1976 (Veverka and Duxbury, 1977. J. Geophys. Res. 82, 4213-4223.), but their origin is still in dispute today. The great increase in knowledge of Phobos’ surface features effected by images from the High Res…
Automatic detection of impact craters on Mars using a modified adaboosting method
Jin, Shuanggen; Zhang, Tengyu
The accurate recognition of impact craters is important to analyze and understand the relative dating of Martian surface. Since manually identifying small craters in a deluge of high-resolution Martian images is a tremendous task, a robust automatic detection algorithm of the crater is needed, but subject to lots of uncertainties and low successfu…
Plasma convection in the nightside magnetosphere of Saturn determined from energetic ion anisotropies
Krimigis, S. M.; Mitchell, D. G.; Carbary, J. F. +1 more
The Cassini Ion and Neutral Camera measures intensities of hydrogen and oxygen ions and neutral atoms in the Saturnian magnetosphere and beyond. We use the measured intensity spectrum and anisotropy of energetic hydrogen and oxygen ions to detect, qualify, and quantify plasma convection. We find that the plasma azimuthal convection speed relative …
Phobos and Deimos cartography
Oberst, J.; Wählisch, M.; Willner, K. +7 more
This paper presents an overview of developments in the cartography of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos from the early satellite images to recent maps based on data from past and on-going Mars missions, especially Viking and Mars Express. We describe in detail the definition and use of special projections for these irregular-shaped bodies. New c…
Single minerals, carbon- and ice-coated single minerals for calibration of GIADA onboard ROSETTA to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Della Corte, Vincenzo; Ferrari, Marco; Rotundi, Alessandra +1 more
In preparation of the rendezvous of the European Space Agency Rosetta spacecraft with short period Jupiter Family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko we undertook the selection and characterization of mineral grains to serve as analogs of dust from the comet. Specifically, these dust analogs are used to calibrate the performance of the onboard Grain I…
On the shape and motion of the Earth's bow shock
Meziane, K.; Hamza, A. M.; Alrefay, T. Y.
Multipoint-measurements by the magnetic field Cluster-FGM (Flux Gate Magnetometer) are used to determine the local shock normal, and in turn allow the study of shock location shape and the velocity of the Earth's bow shock. The shock crossings cover orbits in which the spacecraft separation is of the order of ~600 km or less. A data selection of 1…
A model of the spatial and size distribution of Enceladus' dust plume
Kriegel, Hendrik; Motschmann, Uwe; Schmidt, Jürgen +5 more
The structure of Enceladus' south polar plume of charged dust is studied by simulations of the dust grain dynamics. The model considers the Lorentz force and charging of the grains by the plasma environment within the plume. Simulated dust plumes are investigated by applying 10 selected sets of dust parameters that include variations of the grain …
The Phobos information system
Oberst, J.; Karachevtseva, I. P.; Zubarev, A. E. +7 more
We have developed a Geo-information system (GIS) for Phobos, based on data from the Mars Express and Viking Orbiter missions, which includes orthoimages, global maps, terrain- and gravity field models, all referenced to the Phobos coordinate system. The data are conveniently stored in the ArcGIS software system, which provides an environment for m…