TY - JOUR A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias T1 - Rotation dynamics and torque efficiency of cometary nuclei JF - Astronomy & Astrophysics N2 - The dynamics of a rigid cometary nucleus is described by the evolutions of its center-of-mass and of its rotation state. Solar irradiation that reaches the surface of a cometary nucleus causes the sublimation of volatiles that form the coma around the nucleus. The sublimation process transfers linear momentum and rotational angular momentum from the nucleus to the surrounding space, and thus affects the dynamics via nongravitational forces and nongravitational torques. With the exception of close approaches to planets, these torques exert the dominant influence on the rotation states of cometary nuclei. The Rosetta mission 2014-2016 accompanying comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko provides the longest continuous observational data to track its rotation state. In particular, the data set encompasses the direction of the angular velocity, denoted by ω, and the angular frequency |ω|over a time period of approximately 700 days. The observed change of the rotation state is not explained by a low heat conductivity thermophysical model in combination with a homogeneous surface ice coverage of comet 67P. Spatially and/or temporally varying weights for effective active fraction with respect to a prescribed set of surface regions provide a potential solution to this problem. Here, we present a methodology for classifying the surface based on vectorial efficiency of the torque. On any cometary surface without geometric symmetry, the methodology highlights the decomposition into eight characteristic regions that encode the signs of torque efficiency with respect to all vector components. This decomposition is divided into two subsets of four regions each of which is located in one of both hemispheric regions. We analyze in detail rotation states close to lowest energy and different thermophysical models, and we discuss how the uncertainties of observations affect the model parameters. We study the occurrence of these regions for an oblate ellipsoid, a nearprolate ellipsoid, a bilobed shape, and a shape model analogous to that of comet 67P. The sensitivity analysis for comet 67P indicates that the observations constrain only one of the eight weights uniquely. The other directions are poorly constrained and show the limitation of the rotational data to determine the regional activity on comet 67P. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202553845 VL - 699 SP - A75 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Groussin, Olivier A1 - Jorda, L. A1 - Attree, N. A1 - Birch, S.P.D. A1 - Bürger, Johanna A1 - Gutiérrez, Pedro A1 - Jindal, Abhinav S. A1 - Keller, H.U. A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Lasagni Manghi, Riccardo A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Markkanen, J. A1 - Marschall, R. A1 - Schuckart, C. T1 - Thermal environment and erosion of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics N2 - Aims. This paper focuses on how insolation affects the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko over its current orbit. We aim to better understand the thermal environment of the nucleus, in particular its surface temperature variations, erosion, relationship with topography, and how insolation affects the interior temperature for the location of volatile species (H2O and CO2). Methods. We have developed two thermal models to calculate the surface and subsurface temperatures of 67P over its 6.45-year orbit. The first model, with high resolution (300 000 facets), calculates surface temperatures, taking shadows and self-heating into account but ignoring thermal conductivity. The second model, with lower resolution (10 000 facets), includes thermal conductivity to estimate temperatures down to ∼3 m below the surface. Results. The thermal environment of 67P is strongly influenced by its large obliquity (52◦), which causes significant seasonal effects and polar nights. The northern hemisphere is the coldest region, with temperatures of 210–300 K. H2O is found in the first few centimetres, while CO2 is found deeper (∼2 m) except during polar night around perihelion, when CO2 accumulates near the surface. Cliffs erode 3–5 times faster than plains, forming terraces. The equatorial region receives maximum solar energy (8.5×109 J m−2 per orbit), with maximum surface temperatures of 300–350 K. On the plains, H2O is found in the first few centimetres, while CO2 is found deeper (∼2 m) and never accumulates near the surface. In the southern hemisphere, a brief intense perihelion heating raises temperatures to 350–400 K, which is followed by a 5-year polar night when surface temperatures drop to 55 K. Here H2O remains in the first few centimetres, while CO2 accumulates shallowly during polar night, enriching the region. Erosion is maximal in the southern hemisphere and concentrated on the plains, which explains the observed overall flatness of this hemisphere compared to the northern one. Over one orbit, the total energy from self-heating is 17% of the total energy budget, and 34% for thermal conduction. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the surface changes observed on 67P. Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202452260 VL - 694 SP - A21 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Rubin, Martin A1 - Altwegg, Kathrin T1 - Determination of the ice composition near the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko T2 - Europlanet Science Congress N2 - During the apparition of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) solar irradiation causes varying rates for sublimation of volatile species from the cometary nucleus. Because sublimation processes take place close to the cometary surface, the relative abundance of volatiles in the coma and the ice composition are related to each other. To quantify this relation we assume a model for the expansion of a collisionless gas from the surface into the surrounding space. We use an inverse model approach to relate the in situ measurements of gas densities from the two Rosetta instruments COPS (COmet Pressure Sensor) and DFMS (Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer) at the positions of the spacecraft to the locations of surface gas emissions during the Rosetta mission 2014-2016. We assume the temporally integrated gas emissions to be representative for the ice composition close to the surface. Our analysis shows characteristic differences in the ice compositions between both hemispheres of 67P/C-G. In particular CO2 ice has a reduced abundance on the northern hemisphere. In contrast to the hemispherical differences, the two lobes do not show significant differences in terms of their ice composition. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-826 SP - EPSC2022-826 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Läuter, Matthias T1 - The near nucleus gas and dust environment around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko T2 - Europlanet Science Congress N2 - The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/C-G provided a detailed view of the near nucleus environment of an active Jupiter family comet. The continuous monitoring of the gas pressure with the ROSINA experiment at the location of the Rosetta spacecraft in combination with the images of the dust environment acquired by the OSIRIS cameras allows one to test different hypotheses about the origin of the dust and gas emissions. In addition the orbital elements and the rotation axis and spin rate of the nucleus are affected by the gas release. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-281 SP - EPSC2022-281 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Bürger, Johanna A1 - Gundlach, Bastian A1 - Blum, Jürgen A1 - Hayne, Paul A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias T1 - Lunar regolith properties derived from LRO/Diviner data and thermophysical modelling T2 - Europlanet Science Congress N2 - The Moon as our nearest celestial object is one of the most important bodies for space resource exploration and planetary science. However, knowledge of the physical properties of the lunar regolith is required for the exploitation of lunar resources and for understanding the Moon's geologic history. This knowledge comes mainly from Apollo in-situ experiments and returned samples, but the global distribution of these properties is still poorly understood. Remote sensing measurements offer the opportunity to derive properties of unsampled areas with the help of models. In our study, a microphysical thermal model for the lunar regolith was developed and the simulated surface temperatures were compared with thermal emission measurements from the Diviner radiometer on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to derive regolith properties. This work expands upon previous investigations of lunar regolith properties using Diviner data, by more directly simulating physical properties such as particle size and porosity. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-92 SP - EPSC2022-92 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bürger, Johanna A1 - Hayne, Paul A1 - Gundlach, Bastian A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Blum, Jürgen T1 - A Microphysical Thermal Model for the Lunar Regolith: Investigating the Latitudinal Dependence of Regolith Properties JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets N2 - The microphysical structure of the lunar regolith provides information on the geologic history of the Moon. We used remote sensing measurements of thermal emission and a thermophysical model to determine the microphysical properties of the lunar regolith. We expand upon previous investigations by developing a microphysical thermal model, which more directly simulates regolith properties, such as grain size and volume filling factor. The modeled temperatures are matched with surface temperatures measured by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The maria and highlands are investigated separately and characterized in the model by a difference in albedo and grain density. We find similar regolith temperatures for both terrains, which can be well described by similar volume filling factor profiles and mean grain sizes obtained from returned Apollo samples. We also investigate a significantly lower thermal conductivity for highlands, which formally also gives a very good solution, but in a parameter range that is well outside the Apollo data. We then study the latitudinal dependence of regolith properties up to ±80° latitude. When assuming constant regolith properties, we find that a variation of the solar incidence-dependent albedo can reduce the initially observed latitudinal gradient between model and Diviner measurements significantly. A better match between measurements and model can be achieved by a variation in intrinsic regolith properties with a decrease in bulk density with increasing latitude. We find that a variation in grain size alone cannot explain the Diviner measurements at higher latitudes. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JE008152 VL - 129 IS - 3 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Bürger, Johanna A1 - Hayne, Paul A1 - Gundlach, Bastian A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Blum, Jürgen T1 - Investigating the Latitudinal Dependence of Lunar Regolith Properties Using LRO/Diviner Data and a Microphysical Thermal Model T2 - Bulletin of the AAS N2 - Regolith is formed through weathering of the local rock by meteorite bombardment, space weathering (Pieters & Noble, 2016) and thermal erosion (Delbo et al., 2014). In the case of the Moon, the space weathering effects and diurnal temperature variations are reduced towards the poles. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the lunar regolith properties derived from the comparison of regolith temperatures measured by the Diviner radiometer (Paige et al., 2010) on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) with simulated temperatures derived from a microphysical thermal model show a latitudinal dependence. The developed microphysical thermal model expands upon previous models by more directly simulating regolith properties, such as grain radius and volume filling factor. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://baas.aas.org/pub/2023n8i207p02 VL - 55 IS - 8 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias T1 - Non-gravitational acceleration and torque on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko T2 - Bulletin of the AAS N2 - From August 2014 to September 2016, the ESA operated the Rosetta spacecraft mission alongside with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). The mission provided valuable long-term data on the comet’s nucleus, including its volume, mass, tensor of inertia, spatial position of the orbital trajectory, and rotational state. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://baas.aas.org/pub/2023n8i218p02 VL - 55 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Läuter, Matthias A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Rubin, Martin A1 - Altwegg, Kathrin T1 - The ice composition close to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko JF - ACS Earth and Space Chemistry N2 - The relation between ice composition in the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on the one hand and relative abundances of volatiles in the coma on the other hand is important for the interpretation of density measurements in the environment of the cometary nucleus. For the 2015 apparition, in situ measurements from the two ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) sensors COPS (COmet Pressure Sensor) and DFMS (Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer) determined gas densities at the spacecraft position for the 14 gas species H2O, CO2, CO, H2S, O2, C2H6, CH3OH, H2CO, CH4, NH3, HCN, C2H5OH, OCS, and CS2. We derive the spatial distribution of the gas emissions on the complex shape of the nucleus separately for 50 subintervals of the two-year mission time. The most active patches of gas emission are identified on the surface. We retrieve the relation between solar irradiation and observed emissions from these patches. The emission rates are compared to a minimal thermophysical model to infer the surface active fraction of H2O and CO2. We obtain characteristic differences in the ice composition close to the surface between the two hemispheres with a reduced abundance of CO2 ice on the northern hemisphere (locations with positive latitude). We do not see significant differences for the ice composition on the two lobes of 67P/C-G. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00378 VL - 6 IS - 5 SP - 1189 EP - 1203 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kramer, Tobias A1 - Läuter, Matthias T1 - Matching the activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with long-term ground-based astrometry T2 - Europlanet Science Congress N2 - 50 years of astrometric data for comet 67P/C-G (orbital period about 6.45 years) provides a unique opportunity to benchmark non-gravitational acceleration models to the in situ measurements of the volatile release performed from the Rosetta rendezvous mission (2014-2016). Taken together, the Earth-bound and in-situ data yields lower fit errors and serves as a test-case for our ability to deduce thermophysical quantities of cometary nuclei from the Earth-bound observations. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2021-337 VL - 15 SP - EPSC2021-337 PB - Europlanet Science Congress ER -