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An overfilled lacustrine system and progradational delta in Jezero crater, Mars: Implications for Noachian climate
Head, James W.; Fassett, Caleb I.; Schon, Samuel C.
The presence of valley networks and open-basin lakes in the late Noachian is cited as evidence for overland flow of liquid water and thus a climate on early Mars that might have supported precipitation and runoff. Outstanding questions center on the nature of such a climate, its duration and variability, and its cause. Open basin lakes, their inte…
Applications of a new set of methane line parameters to the modeling of Titan’s spectrum in the 1.58 µm window
Drossart, Pierre; Bézard, Bruno; Lellouch, Emmanuel +11 more
In this paper we apply a recently released set of methane line parameters (Wang et al., 2011) to the modeling of Titan spectra in the 1.58 µm window at both low and high spectral resolution. We first compare the methane absorption based on this new set of methane data to that calculated from the methane absorption coefficients derived in sit…
Titan’s internal structure and the evolutionary consequences
Fortes, A. D.
Titan’s moment of inertia (MoI), estimated from the quadrupole gravity field measured by the Cassini spacecraft, is 0.342, which has been interpreted as evidence of a partially differentiated internal mass distribution. It is shown here that the observed MoI is equally consistent with a fully differentiated internal structure comprising a shell of…
Titan’s global crater population: A new assessment
Lorenz, R. D.; Neish, C. D.
We report a revised crater population for Titan using Cassini RADAR data through January 2010 (flyby T65), and make a size-dependent correction for the incomplete coverage (∼33%) using a Monte-Carlo model. Qualitatively, Titan’s landscape is more heavily cratered than Earth, but much less than Mars or Ganymede: the area fraction covered by craters…
Titan's fluvial valleys: Morphology, distribution, and spectral properties
Sotin, C.; Barnes, J. W.; Brown, R. H. +11 more
Titan's fluvial channels have been investigated based on data obtained by the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument and the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft. In this paper, a database of fluvial features is created based on radar-SAR data aiming to unveil the distribution and the morphologic and s…
Hydrogen peroxide on Mars: Observations, interpretation and future plans
Encrenaz, T.; Atreya, S. K.; Greathouse, T. K. +1 more
Ever since the Viking mass spectrometer failed to detect organics on the surface of Mars in 1976 (Biemann et al., 1976), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been suggested as a possible oxidizer of the Martian surface (Oyama and Berdahl, 1977). However, the search for H2O2 on Mars was unsuccessful for three dec…
Spatial and temporal variations in Titan's surface temperatures from Cassini CIRS observations
Irwin, P. G. J.; Teanby, N. A.; de Kok, R. +4 more
We report a wide-ranging study of Titan's surface temperatures by analysis of the Moon's outgoing radiance through a spectral window in the thermal infrared at 19 µm (530 cm-1) characterized by lower atmospheric opacity. We begin by modeling Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) far infrared spectra collected in the perio…
Chronology of deposition and alteration in the Mawrth Vallis region, Mars
Mangold, N.; Bibring, J. -P.; Loizeau, D. +2 more
The Mawrth Vallis area displays some of the largest phyllosilicate-rich outcrops of Mars, on Noachian highlands. The Mawrth Vallis region is located just at the dichotomy boundary between the Noachian highlands and the younger, northern lowlands. A large, thick, layered clay-rich unit is present throughout the inter-crater plateaus. Clay-rich laye…
The Saturnian satellite Rhea as seen by Cassini VIMS
Baines, Kevin H.; Buratti, Bonnie J.; Clark, Roger N. +16 more
Since the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn in June 2004, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer has obtained new spectral data of the icy satellites of Saturn in the spectral range from 0.35 to 5.2 µm. Numerous flybys were performed at Saturn’s second largest satellite Rhea, providing a nearly complete coverage with pixel-gr…
Late Hesperian aqueous alteration at Majuro crater, Mars
Mangold, N.; Poulet, F.; Ansan, V. +3 more
Impact craters cover a large portion of the surface of Mars and could constitute a significant exobiology research target as their formation provided heat sources for aqueous processes. To date, only rare examples of hydrothermal alteration in craters have been reported on Mars while many studies have focused on modeling their effect. Using data f…