Search Publications
The influence of slope morphology on gullies: Terrestrial gullies in Lake George as analogues for Mars
Hobbs, S. W.; Paull, D. J.; Clarke, J. D. A.
Terrestrial gullies provide a useful benchmark to compare martian gully forms against. We compare pole and equator facing gullies in an unnamed crater located in the martian southern mid-latitudes with gullies located on the Lake George escarpment south of Gearys Gap, New South Wales, Australia. Our investigations showed gully morphology at both s…
Experimental validation of XRF inversion code for Chandrayaan-1
Narendranath, S.; Sreekumar, P.; Sudhakar, M. +5 more
We have developed an algorithm (x2abundance) to derive the lunar surface chemistry from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data for the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) experiment. The algorithm converts the observed XRF line fluxes to elemental abundances with uncertainties. We validated the algorithm in the laboratory using high Z elements (20<Z…
A model of scattered thermal radiation for Venus from 3 to 5µm
Hueso, R.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; García Muñoz, A. +2 more
Thermal radiation becomes a prominent feature in the continuum spectrum of Venus longwards of ∼3µm. The emission is traceable to the upper cloud and haze layers in the planet's mesosphere. Venus' thermal radiation spectrum is punctuated by CO2 bands of various strengths probing into different atmospheric depths. It is thus possibl…
Dust-plasma interaction through magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling in Saturn's plasma disk
Gurnett, Donald A.; Kurth, William S.; Wahlund, Jan-Erik +4 more
The ion bulk speeds in the equatorial region of Saturn's inner magnetosphere, according to data from the Langmuir Probe (LP) on board the Cassini spacecraft, are about 60% of the ideal co-rotation speed; the ion speeds are between the co-rotation and Keplerian speeds (Holmberg et al., Ion densities and velocities in the inner plasma torus of Satur…
Registration of Mars remote sensing images under the crater constraint
Cheng, Liang; Ma, Lei; Yang, Kang +2 more
Registration of Mars remote sensing images is vital to jointly exploit and integrate the data from various sensors and periods, which is difficult because the lack of textural information in Mars images. We proposed a RANSAC-based iterative method, under the crater constraint, for affine invariant feature matching. The novelty of this method is, i…
Morphology and geology of an interior layered deposit in the western Tithonium Chasma, Mars
Baioni, Davide
This paper describes a morphologic and morphometric survey of a 3.1 km-high, domeshaped upland in western Tithonium Chasma (TC) which coincides with areas containing abundant surface signatures of the sulphate mineral kiersite, as identified by the OMEGA image spectrometer. The morphologic features of the dome were investigated through an integrat…
A method to estimate optical distortion using planetary images
Imamura, Takeshi; Yamazaki, Atsushi; Kouyama, Toru +1 more
We developed a method to calibrate optical distortion parameters for axisymmetrical optical systems using images of a spherical target taken at a variety of distances. The method utilizes the fact that the influence of distortion on the apparent radius in the image changes with the disk size of the projected body. Because several planets can be us…
Energy distribution asymmetry of electron precipitation signatures at Mars
Coates, A. J.; Barabash, S.; Lundin, R. +5 more
The different types of asymmetry observed in the energy distributions of electrons and heavy-ions (M/Q=16-44) during signatures of electron precipitation in the Martian ionosphere have been classified. This has been achieved using the space plasma instrumentation of MEX ASPERA-3 from peri-centre altitude to 2200 km. ASPERA-3 ELS observes signature…
Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) onboard Rosetta/Philae: Comparison of experimental results and the theory behind the experiment
Flandes, Alberto; Krüger, Harald; Loose, Alexander +4 more
The Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) experiment on board the Rosetta spacecraft's lander, Philae, is a cube with three sides covered with piezo-electric (PZT) sensors (total sensitive area: ≈70cm2), aimed at measuring the physical properties of millimetric and sub-millimetric dust particles that move near the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov - G…
Hellas Planitia as a potential site of sedimentary minerals
Zalewska Andrzejewska, Natalia
Demonstration of the existence of clay minerals and sulfates of Hellas brings us closer to the finding that water on Mars might have existed earlier and it may even exist now. Hellas Crater is a potential area where episodes of liquid water may appear. Infrared data from OMEGA and PFS installed on the Mars Express probe have been used for the inve…