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The Interplay Between Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection and Turbulence
Hasegawa, H.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Graham, D. B. +13 more
Alongside magnetic reconnection, turbulence is another fundamental nonlinear plasma phenomenon that plays a key role in energy transport and conversion in space and astrophysical plasmas. From a numerical, theoretical, and observational point of view there is a long history of exploring the interplay between these two phenomena in space plasma env…
Mars Express: 20 Years of Mission, Science Operations and Data Archiving
Johnstone, A.; Geiger, B.; Määttänen, A. +27 more
Launched on 2 June 2003 and arriving at Mars on 25 December 2003 after a 7-month interplanetary cruise, Mars Express was the European Space Agency's first mission to arrive at another planet. After more than 20 years in orbit, the spacecraft and science payload remain in good health and the mission has become the second oldest operational planetar…
The Composition of Saturn's Rings
Nicholson, Philip D.; Johnson, Robert E.; Hedman, Matthew M. +13 more
The origin and evolution of Saturn's rings is critical to understanding the Saturnian system as a whole. Here, we discuss the physical and chemical composition of the rings, as a foundation for evolutionary models described in subsequent chapters. We review the physical characteristics of the main rings, and summarize current constraints on their …
Dynamical Phenomena in the Martian Atmosphere Through Mars Express Imaging
Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Tirsch, D.; Spiga, A. +5 more
This review describes the dynamic phenomena in the atmosphere of Mars that are visible in images taken in the visual range through cloud formation and dust lifting. We describe the properties of atmospheric features traced by aerosols covering a large range of spatial and temporal scales, including dynamical interpretations and modelling when avai…
Airglow and Aurora in the Martian Atmosphere: Contributions by the Mars Express and ExoMars TGO Missions
Montmessin, Franck; Fedorova, Anna; Gérard, Jean-Claude +6 more
The study of atmospheric emissions from orbit to probe the middle and upper atmosphere of Mars, which started with the Mariner missions, is living a golden era thanks to the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express mission and other subsequent missions built upon its success, including the ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. Here we summa…
The Ionosphere of Mars After 20 Years of Mars Express Contributions
Pätzold, Martin; González-Galindo, Francisco; Holmström, Mats +6 more
The Martian ionosphere originates from the ionization of the planetary neutral atmosphere by solar radiation. This conductive layer is embedded within the thermosphere and exosphere of Mars where it forms a highly variable interaction region with the solar wind. The Martian ionosphere has been continuously observed by the three plasma instruments …
Geological Record of Water and Wind Processes on Mars as Observed by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera
Jaumann, R.; Tirsch, D.; Hiesinger, H. +9 more
This review paper summarizes the observations and results of the Mars Express Mission and its application in the analysis of geological processes and landforms on Mars during the last 20 years. The Mars Express observations provided an extended data base allowing a comparative evaluation of different geological surface landforms and their time-bas…
The Polar Stratosphere of Jupiter
Zhang, X.; Johnson, R. E.; Hueso, R. +13 more
Observations of the Jovian upper atmosphere at high latitudes in the UV, IR and mm/sub-mm all indicate that the chemical distributions and thermal structure are broadly influenced by auroral particle precipitations. Mid-IR and UV observations have shown that several light hydrocarbons (up to 6 carbon atoms) have altered abundances near Jupiter's m…
Water Ice and Possible Habitability in the Landing Area of Tianwen-1 Mission
Ding, Chunyu; Su, Yan; Li, Jiawei +3 more
The Tianwen-1 mission, marking China's inaugural venture into Mars exploration, successfully deployed the Zhurong rover on Utopia Planitia. This review primarily focuses on the insights provided by the Mars Rover Penetrating Radar (RoPeR), a pivotal component of the mission's scientific payload. The article synthesizes the RoPeR findings with an e…
Dust and Clouds on Mars: The View from Mars Express
Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A.; Sánchez-Lavega, A. +11 more
European Space Agency's Mars Express (MEX) has been orbiting Mars for 20 years and its instruments have provided a plethora of observations of atmospheric dust and clouds. These observations have been analysed to produce many unique views of the processes leading to dust lifting and cloud formation, and a full picture of the climatologies of dust …