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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.
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.
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.
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.