Publications
Filter Total Items: 923
A novel surface energy balance method for thermal inertia studies of terrestrial analogs
Surface thermal inertia derived from satellite imagery offers a valuable tool for remotely mapping the physical structure and water content of planetary regolith. Efforts to quantify thermal inertia using surface temperatures on Earth, however, have consistently yielded large uncertainties and suffered from a lack of reproducibility. Unlike dry or airless bodies, Earth's abundant water and dense a
Authors
Ari Koeppel, Christopher S. Edwards, Lauren A. Edgar, Scott A Nowicki, Kristen A. Bennett, Amber Gullikson, Sylvain Piqueux, Helen A. Eifert, Daphne Chapline, A. Deanne Rogers
A comparison of CO2 seasonal activity in Mars' northern and southern hemispheres
Carbon dioxide is Mars' most active volatile. The seasonal and diurnal processes of when and where it condenses and sublimates are determined by energy balance between the atmosphere and surface ice in Mars' vapor pressure equilibrium climate. Mars' current obliquity ensures that the polar caps are stable locations for seasonal condensation. The eccentricity of Mars' orbit is the major driver of d
Authors
Candice J. Hansen, Shane Byrne, Wendy M. Calvin, Serina Diniega, Colin M. Dundas, Paul O. Hayne, Alfred S. McEwen, Lauren E McKeown, Sylvain Piqueux, Ganna Portyankina, Meg E Schwamb, Timothy N. Titus, Jacob M Widmer
The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) in the MRO extended science phases (2009–2023)
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been orbiting Mars since 2006 and has acquired >80,000 HiRISE images with sub-meter resolution, contributing to over 2000 peer-reviewed publications, and has provided the data needed to enable safe surface landings in key locations by several rovers or landers. This paper describes the changes to science planning, data processing, and analysis tools since the in
Authors
Alfred S. McEwen, Shane Byrne, Candice J. Hansen, Ingrid J. Daubar, Sarah Sutton, Colin M. Dundas, Nicole Bardabelias, Nicole Baugh, James W. Bergstrom, Ross A. Beyer, Kristin M Block, Veronica Bray, John C. Bridges, Matthew Chojnacki, Susan J. Conway, W Alan Delamere, T. Ebben, Yisrael Espinosa, Audrie Fennema, John Grant, Virginia C Gulick, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Rodney Heyd, Richard Leis, Lujendra Ojha, Singleton Papendick, Christian Schaller, Nicolas Thomas, Livio L. Tornabene, Catherine M. Weitz, Sharon A. Wilson
Polar science results from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Multiwavelength, multiyear insights
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), with its arrival in 2006 and nearly continuous operation since, has provided data for the study of martian polar processes spanning nine Mars years. Mars' polar deposits have long been thought to preserve records of past climates, potentially readable like terrestrial ice cores. However, unraveling millions of years of history in the ice depends on understanding
Authors
Margaret E. Landis, P. J. Acharya, N. R. Alsaeed, C. Andres, Patricio Becerra, Wendy M. Calvin, E. M. Cangi, S. F. A. Cartwright, M. S. Chaffin, Serina Diniega, Colin M. Dundas, Candice J. Hansen, Paul O. Hayne, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, David M. Kass, Aditya R. Khuller, Lauren McKeown, Patrich S. Russell, Isaac B. Smith, Sarah S. Sutton, J. M. Widmer, Jennifer L Whitten
New, dated small impacts on the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD), Mars, and implications for shallow subsurface properties
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) imaged two newly formed impact craters on the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD) of Mars in 2018 and 2020. These two new craters, the first detected on the SPLD, measure ∼17 m and ∼48 m in diameter. Follow-up observations were conducted with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), showing seasonal and interannual changes,
Authors
Margaret E. Landis, Colin M. Dundas, Alfred S. McEwen, Ingrid J. Daubar, Paul O. Hayne, Shane Byrne, Sarah S. Sutton, Vidhya Ganesh Rangarajan, Livio L. Tornabene, Andrew Britton, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff
Novel quantitative methods to enable multispectral identification of high-purity water ice exposures on Mars using High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images
Reliable detection and characterization of water ice on the Martian surface is pivotal to not only understand its present and past climate, but to also provide valuable information on in-situ resource availability and distribution for future human exploration missions. Ice-rich features are currently identified with visible/near-IR (VNIR), thermal IR and radar data. However, their coarse spatial s
Authors
Vidhya Ganesh Rangarajan, Livio L. Tornabene, G. R. Osinski, Colin M. Dundas, Ross A. Beyer, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Shane Byrne, Rodney Heyd, Frank P. Seelos, G. Munaretto, Angela Dapremont
Geological context and significance of the clay-sulfate transition region in Mount Sharp, Gale crater, Mars: An integrated assessment based on orbiter and rover data
On Mars, phyllosilicate (“clay”) minerals are often associated with older terrains, and sulfate minerals are associated with younger terrains, and this dichotomy is taken as evidence that Mars’ surface dried up over time. Therefore, in situ investigation of the Mount Sharp strata in Gale crater, which record a shift from dominantly clay-bearing to sulfate-bearing minerals, as seen in visible−near-
Authors
Melissa J. Meyer, Ralph E. Milliken, Kathryn M. Stack, Lauren A. Edgar, Elizabeth B. Rampe, Madison L. Turner, Kevin W. Lewis, Edwin S. Kite, Gwenael Caravaca, Ashwin R. Vasavada, William E. Dietrich, Alex B. Bryk, Olivier Gasnault, Stephane Le Mouelic, Christina H. Seeger, Rachel Y. Sheppard
The evolution of a young ocean within Mimas
The fractured, young surfaces on confirmed ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus suggest that ocean-bearing moons with relatively thin overlying ice shells should be easy to identify. Hence, the discovery that Mimas’ rotation state is best explained by an internal ocean seems challenging to reconcile with its heavily cratered surface. Previous studies have shown that an internal ocean is compa
Authors
A. R. Rhoden, M. E. Walker, M. L. Rudolph, Michael T. Bland, Michael Manga
A new database of giant impacts over a wide range of masses and with material strength: A first analysis of outcomes
In the late stage of terrestrial planet formation, planets are predicted to undergo pairwise collisions known as giant impacts. Here, we present a high-resolution database of giant impacts for differentiated colliding bodies of iron–silicate composition, with target masses ranging from 1 × 10−4M⊕ up to super-Earths (5 M⊕). We vary the impactor-to-target mass ratio, core–mantle (iron–silicate) frac
Authors
Alexandre Emsenhuber, Erik Asphaug, Saverio Cambioni, Travis S. J. Gabriel, Stephen R. Schwartz, Robert E. Melikyan, C. Adeene Denton
How, when and where current mass flows in Martian gullies are driven by CO2 sublimation
Martian gullies resemble water-carved gullies on Earth, yet their present-day activity cannot be explained by water-driven processes. The sublimation of CO2 has been proposed as an alternative driver for sediment transport, but how this mechanism works remains unknown. Here we combine laboratory experiments of CO2-driven granular flows under Martian atmospheric pressure with 1D climate simulation
Authors
Lonneke Roelofs, Susan J. Conway, Tjalling de Haas, Colin M. Dundas, Stephen R. Lewis, Jim McElwaine, Kelly Pasquon, Jan Raack, Matt Sylvest, Manish Patel
Measuring erosional and depositional patterns across Comet 67P's imhotep region
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko displays a pronounced hemispherical dichotomy in surface morphology, where the southern hemisphere exhibits more erosional features than the northern hemisphere due to receiving much greater solar radiation. Consequently, it is generally assumed that particles are ejected from the southern hemisphere through sublimation and a significant fraction eventually descends
Authors
Abhinav S. Jindal, Samuel P. D. Birch, Alexander G. Hayes, F. P. Özyurt, A. Issah, S. Moruzzi, N. M. Barrington, Jason M. Soderblom, Randolph L. Kirk, R. Marschall, J.-B. Vincent
Evolution of a lake margin recorded in the Sutton Island member of the Murray formation, Gale crater, Mars
This study uses data from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover to document the facies of the Sutton Island member of the Murray formation, interpret paleoenvironments, and establish key stratigraphic transitions at Gale crater. Two facies associations were identified: Facies Association 1 (FA1) and Facies Association 2 (FA2). Individual facies in FA1 include planar-laminated mudstone with m
Authors
Samantha Gwizd, Christopher M. Fedo, John P. Grotzinger, Steve G. Banham, Frances Rivera-Hernandez, Sanjeev Gupta, Kathryn M. Stack, Lauren A. Edgar, Ashwin R. Vasavada, Joel M. Davis, Linda C. Kah