Space instrumentation

Abstract:

Methane (CH4) on Mars is of high scientific importance, particularly for its generation and destruction mechanisms. With an estimated photochemical lifetime of approximately 300 years, sporadic methane plumes observed on Mars by orbital, landed missions, and Earth-based telescopes suggest the presence of unknown destruction processes. Here, we present an experiment to examine CH4 destruction through heterogeneous electrochemistry (HEC) triggered by Martian dust activities. We performed a series of mid-strength electrostatic discharge (ESD) experiments in mixtures of CO2 and CH4 under conditions relevant to the Martian near-surface atmosphere. We characterized (1) the free radicals produced from the breakdown of CH4 and CO2; (2) the gaseous and solid products of CH4 and CO2 decomposition; and (3) the half-life of CH4 in this experiment. Based on a newly reported mission observation of electric discharge during a dust devil (DD) on Mars, we extrapolated the experimentally derived half-life to an approximate dust-devil-effective half-life of CH4 on Mars, with uncertainties spanning orders of magnitude. The result demonstrates that dust-driven HEC can cause CH4 destruction at rates hundreds to thousands of times faster than photochemistry. In future missions to Mars, if the knowledge gaps in the E-properties of dust activity are filled through regular measurements, this experimental finding may imply that Martian dust activity could be the primary factor reducing methane's lifetime, thereby contributing to understanding methane loss in the Martian atmosphere.

Abstract:

Abstract We investigate the diurnal temperature variations of Europa’s surface using brightness temperatures taken by Galileo’s Photopolarimeter-Radiometer (PPR) instrument. Diurnal curves created from these data are compared to those predicted by a thermophysical model to determine what thermal inertias and Bond albedos can fit the data within a reduced chi-squared cutoff of $\chi _{\textrm {red}}^2\le 1.0$. This analysis is used to extensively quantify the uncertainty for the first time of the two thermophysical parameters derived from PPR. We map the albedo and thermal inertia for 33% and 24% of Europa’s surface area, respectively. We find a range of 0.375-0.75 for albedo and 20-110 J m−2 K−1 s−1/2 for thermal inertia. Our uncertainty analysis indicates well-constrained estimates for albedo, while upper limits for thermal inertia remain poorly constrained. When averaged across nine geological areas, albedo varies as expected: lower values are obtained for darker regions in visible wavelengths. Thermal inertia appears to vary independently from geological boundaries. The surface was also divided based on electron bombardment energy flux and non-ice composition fraction. Thermal inertia behaves opposite of what is expected: lower thermal inertias are located in regions of high-energy electron bombardment. This possibly indicates a mechanism competing with electron-induced sintering is present that is lowering the surface conductivity. No endogenic anomalies were detected that could not be explained by passive emission alone. Nevertheless, these results aid in preparing for future thermal measurements from Europa Clipper and Juice by improving the surface coverage of Europa’s passive thermal properties and providing uncertainties of their values.

Abstract:

Saturn’s ocean moon Enceladus is among the most compelling targets for future astrobiology-focused missions. Material erupted from the moon’s south polar “Tiger Stripe” fractures is thought to originate from a global subsurface ocean, providing a natural pathway for ocean-derived compounds to be sampled without penetrating the ice shell. Cassini observations demonstrated that Enceladus’ plume contains water vapor, ice grains, salts, organics, phosphates, and other compounds of astrobiological interest. Consequently, future landed or plume-sampling missions to Enceladus will seek to determine whether ocean-sourced organic molecules, and potentially biosignatures, can be preserved and detected in plume material.However, once plume grains are erupted and deposited onto the surface, they are exposed to multiple space weathering agents. Solar ultraviolet radiation, Saturnian magnetospheric charged particles, and galactic cosmic rays can alter or destroy organic molecules contained within surface material. The degree of processing depends not only on radiation environment and molecular susceptibility, but also on the rate at which fresh plume fallout buries previously deposited material. Identifying locations and depths where organics may remain minimally processed is therefore key for mission planning and interpretation of future measurements.Here we model the degradation and preservation of plume-deposited organics on Enceladus, using the amino acids glycine and phenylalanine as representative organic molecules and potential biosignature proxies. We combine solar UV photodestruction calculations, Geant4-based charged-particle irradiation simulations, and estimates of local plume deposition rates to produce a coupled model of irradiation and burial across the surface. Solar UV photolysis rates are calculated using experimental rate coefficients adjusted for seasonal variation in photon flux at selected locations on Enceladus, including equatorial and southern-hemisphere sites at leading and trailing longitudes. Because even small abundances of non-water-ice contaminants can strongly influence UV attenuation, we also examine the effect of trace tholin-like material mixed into the ice. Charged-particle processing is estimated using Cassini-derived magnetospheric electron spectra and a numerical transport model for the galactic cosmic ray flux at Saturn.Our results show that preservation of plume-deposited organics is highly sensitive to burial rate and season. At low to moderate surface deposition rates, less than approximately 0.002 mm yr⁻¹, newly deposited surface material is strongly processed by solar UV radiation before burial can shield it from further exposure. In such regions, there may be no practical “safe sampling depth” at which pristine or minimally processed organics can be accessed, because material has already been altered before reaching depth. By contrast, in regions receiving the highest predicted plume deposition rates, especially during local winter when solar UV exposure is reduced, burial can occur rapidly enough to protect a significant fraction of the organic inventory. Under these conditions, the near-surface stratigraphy may consist of millimeter-scale layers that alternate between relatively well-preserved and heavily photoprocessed material, reflecting seasonal variations in irradiation during emplacement.Our findings have implications for the mission design and sampling strategy of future Enceladus missions. A landed mission seeking minimally processed ocean-derived organics should prioritize regions of high plume fallout, where burial is most effective, and should consider the seasonal context of deposition and sampling. The most favorable strategy may be to collect plume grains directly before surface deposition, e.g., from a funnel on the surface or plume fly-through, thereby avoiding prolonged radiolytic and photolytic alteration. If surface sampling is required, targeting the uppermost approximately 0.1 mm of material in high-deposition regions during local winter may maximize the probability of detecting less-processed organics. More broadly, our results demonstrate that preservation potential at Enceladus is governed by the competition between surface irradiation and plume-driven burial, and that this balance should be incorporated into future landing site selection, sampling-depth requirements, and biosignature-detection strategies.

Abstract:

Introduction: Thermal infrared emissivity measurements of asteroid regolith analogs are challenging owing to atmospheric water vapor absorption, sample heating requirements, and the need for controlled atmospheric conditions [1], yet they provide fundamental constraints on surface thermal properties that cannot be obtained from reflectance spectroscopy alone [1]. While diffuse reflectance measurements have demonstrated that minimal fine dust coverage can dominate spectral signatures [2], spacecraft-based thermal emission instruments like the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) observe different physical processes related to thermal emission rather than scattered light [3]. The disconnect between laboratory studies and spacecraft observations has thus limited our ability to interpret thermal infrared spectra of asteroid surfaces. Previous work using Space Resource Technology's CI simulant showed that 7-10 wt% fine dust coverage could impose fine-dominated reflectance features on coarse substrates [2], but the corresponding thermal emission properties remained uncharacterized. To bridge this gap, we conducted systematic thermal emissivity measurements of layered CI simulant materials using Oxford’s PASCALE instrument [4] under nitrogen atmosphere, constraining how dust deposition mechanisms affect the thermal emission processes observed by spacecraft instruments at airless bodies like asteroid (101955) Bennu. Methods: We measured thermal emission of layered CI simulant [5] samples using PASCALE under nitrogen atmosphere across 2000-400 cm⁻¹ (5-25 µm), eliminating atmospheric water vapor interference. Six layering configurations were tested, using 10 wt% fines (5% emissivity variations from unity), while the fluffy group shows more subdued but consistent spectral signatures. All method-dependent variations exceed the 2% measurement precision, demonstrating that dust deposition mechanism leaves diagnostic thermal emission signatures that can distinguish (and potentially identify) natural surface processes on airless body surfaces. Discussion: The separation between fluffy and compact layering methods demonstrates that thermal emission spectroscopy can distinguish surface formation processes on airless bodies. These results provide constraints missing from reflectance-only studies, by characterizing thermal emission properties relevant to spacecraft observations like OTES. The ability to spectrally distinguish between natural deposition processes offers new frameworks for understanding regolith evolution and thermophysical properties on asteroid surfaces. Summary: This study establishes thermal emissivity as a diagnostic tool for identifying dust deposition mechanisms on asteroid surfaces, demonstrating that layering processes leave distinct spectral signatures. References: [1] Salisbury et al. (1991) Icarus 92, 280-297. [2] Belhadfa et al. (2026) MaPs, In Prep. [3] Christensen P. R. et al. (2018) Space Science Reviews (Vol. 214, Issue 5). [4] Donaldson Hanna et al. (2019) Icarus 319, 701-723. [5] Landsman Z. et al. (2020) EPSC.  

Abstract:

IntroductionThe presence of endogenic hotspots provides a measure of the level of geologic activity of icy moons, since they are indicative of ongoing resurfacing processes. However, to avoid misinterpreting thermal abnormalities, it is first necessary to understand passive thermal emission that is governed by the physical structure of materials. Two important thermophysical properties in such analysis are bolometric Bond albedo and thermal inertia: if diurnal temperature variations can be accurately modeled by adjusting these two parameters, a passive rather than endogenic origin is possible. In this work, we aim to constrain the thermal inertia and Bond albedo across the surfaces of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto using brightness temperature observations recorded by the Galileo Photopolarimeter-Radiometer (PPR) instrument [1]. By presenting estimated values and their uncertainties for these thermophysical properties, we prepare for future thermal measurements carried out by both Europa Clipper and JUICE.MethodsWe first take average diurnal temperatures of the surfaces of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto using brightness temperatures recorded by PPR. In this analysis, we use 29 datasets for Europa, notably increased beyond previous efforts [2], comparable to [3].  With less observations available, only 7 datasets each were used for both Ganymede and Callisto. By translating the observed radiance into brightness temperatures, the variation in temperature with local time is determined for latitude and longitude bins across each of the three moons. These diurnal curves are compared to those predicted by a 1-D thermal model [4] to determine what thermal inertias and Bond albedos can fit the data within a reduced chi-squared cut-off of χ2red ≤1.0. This analysis is used to extensively quantify the uncertainty of the two thermophysical parameters derived from PPR data.ResultsEuropa: Ensuring closed upper and lower limits within our χ2red cut-off, we map albedo and thermal inertia for 33% and 24% of Europa's surface area into 6°x6° latitude/longitude bins (Fig. 1, left). We find a range of 0.375-0.75 for albedo and 20-110 J m-2 K-1 s-1/2 (MKS) for thermal inertia, agreeing with [2] and [3]. Our uncertainty analysis indicates well-constrained estimates for albedo, with the average higher and lower ranges overlapping within their uncertainties: Ahigh = 0.11 ± 0.06 and Alow = 0.18 ± 0.12. Uncertainties for thermal inertia remain poorly constrained, with average higher and lower ranges being ­Γhigh = 103(+153/-103) MKS and Γ­low = 17 ± 9 MKS.Ganymede: Due to less available surface coverage, Ganymede’s surface is divided into 18°x6° longitude/latitude bins in order to meet the diurnal fitting routine requirements (Fig. 1, right). Preliminary results indicate the Bond albedo remains nearly uniform, with an average of 0.42 ± 0.07 across the surface and agreeing well with previous work [6]. Specifically, our χ2red-deduced higher and lower uncertainty ranges of albedo are: Ahigh = 0.10 ± 0.06 and Alow = 0.14 ± 0.08. No apparent distinct surface variations in thermal inertia are as of yet discerned, with global values distributed across a range of 20-70 MKS. Upper limit thermal inertia estimates align with [6] within χ2red-deduced uncertainty ranges of ­Γhigh = 57 ± 35 MKS and Γ­low = 25 ± 11 MKS.Callisto: With less PPR coverage available, Callisto fits are performed across grouped hemispheric regions, where the Jovian and anti-Jovian hemispheres are analyzed separately. Each hemisphere is divided into 10° latitude strips. Preliminary results for thermal inertia and Bond albedo indicate an overall agreement with lower-bound estimations from previous literature [5,6]. Further constraints are expected to be obtained at the time of the conference.ConclusionThese results give an indication of the albedo and thermal inertia variation across Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They aid in preparing for the arrival of Europa Clipper and JUICE to the Jupiter system by improving estimates for passive surface thermal properties and providing uncertainties of their values. This will enable future work to help discern what temperatures may lie above those expected from passive emission alone, providing a critical first step in the search for endogenic heating anomalies. Future work aims to refine the Ganymede and Callisto calculations using a two-component (ice and non-ice) analysis, and characterize the causes behind thermal inertia variations by modeling microphysical ice states for the three Galilean moons.Fig. 1: Thermal Inertia (top) and Bond albedo (bottom) map of Europa (left) and preliminary results for Ganymede (right).[1] Russell, E.E. et al., 1992. Space Sci Rev 60, 531-563.; [2] Rathbun, J.A. et al., 2010. Icarus 210, 763-769.; [3] Lange, L. et al., 2026. arXiv:2604.14374; [4] Lyster, D. et al., 2025. pp. EPSC-DPS2025-1479; [5] Meyer, C. et al., 2026. Planet. Sci. J. 7, 10; [6] Spencer, J.R. et al., 1989. Icarus 78(2), 337-354.