Planetary science and imaging Plasma effects on solar system objects other than Earth depend on the object and its environment. Reconnection is important at magnetised objects, such as Mercury, Ganymede and the gas giant planets. But at unmagnetised objects, for example, Venus, Mars, Titan, Pluto and comets, the magnetic field drapes, and plasma can interact with any atmosphere or exosphere. This can lead to the loss of atmosphere over time at these objects.
What is the importance of ionospheric photoelectrons as a cause of plasma escape at Titan, Venus and Mars? What is the link between in-situ plasma and remote sensing measurements at comets, including solar wind speed? Was there or is there life on Mars?
The magnetic environment of Saturn / ESA/Cassini
We study ionospheres and their interaction with their environments using photoelectrons. We have discovered heavy negative ions in Titan’s atmosphere which is the source of Titan’s haze and eventually fall to Titan’s surface. This same process plays a role at Pluto and perhaps Triton. We also study Jupiter’s and Saturn’s magnetospheres. We use Cassini, Mars Express, Venus Express and Chandra for this work. From 2030, we will use JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) to study Jupiter’s magnetosphere and its interaction with Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. For comets, we study the effect of activity on the solar wind interaction. We use Rosetta to study the changing interaction of comet 67P and we compare this with Giotto at comets Halley and Grigg-Skjellerup. We also use comets to infer solar wind conditions at different parts of the solar system, and we model cometary sodium tails. At Mars, the loss of atmosphere over 3.8 billion years has made it uninhabitable at the surface. We use orbital imagery to study changes on the surface and the role of water, and we use super-resolution to improve the results. We are also preparing to study the geology and atmospheric physics using the ExoMars rover. Our PanCam instrument has a powerful combination of 3D wide-angle cameras to identify minerals, water and dust, and a high resolution camera to add texture, for launch in 2018.
Earth from Space: A southern summer algal bloom / ESA/ENVISAT
Venus in the ultraviolet and the infrared / ESA/Venus Express
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