Deriving Physical Parameters of Atmosphereless Bodies in the Solar System by Modelling their Thermal Emission

Project description

Abstract

We conduct a comprehensive study of state-of-the-art thermophysical models (TPMs) as applied to a wide variety of atmosphereless Solar System bodies. The need for such a study arises from the recent availability of new thermal data of unprecedented quality, which naturally demand more sophisticated TPMs in order to retrieve information on the nature of the surfaces and structure of the objects. These data are provided by currently active spacecraft such as Deep Impact/EPOXI (comets), Rosetta (asteroids/comet), LRO (the Moon), Dawn (asteroids), and Cassini (Saturnian satellites), in the form of spatially resolved IR spectroscopy. In addition, a wealth of disk-integrated IR observations from orbiting observatories and groundbased telescopes may allow great progress in physical understanding of the Solar System small bodies at large, if the most relevant TPMs are used for interpretation.

Aims of the project

Team

First/Last Name Institute/Country E-mail
Hans Rickman
(Team coordinator) 		Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Sweden
& PAN Space Research Center, Warsaw, Poland 		hans.rickman [at] fysast.uu.se
Björn Davidsson
(Vice team coordinator) 		Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Sweden bjorn.davidsson [at] physics.uu.se
Joshua Bandfield Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA joshband [at] u.washington.edu
Karin Bauch Institut für Planetologie, Universität Münster, Germany karin.bauch [at] uni-muenster.de
Maria Teresa Capria INAF-IASF, Planetology Department, Rome, Italy capria [at] rm.iasf.cnr.it
Joshua Emery Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA jemery2 [at] utk.edu
Olivier Groussin Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France olivier.groussin [at] oamp.fr
Pedro Gutiérrez Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Granada, Spain pedroj [at] iaa.es
Jörn Helbert Institute for Planetary Research, DLR, Berlin, Germany joern.helbert [at] dlr.de
Laurent Jorda Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France laurent.jorda [at] oamp.fr
Thomas Müller MPI für Extraterrestrische Physik, Germany tmueller [at] mpe.mpg.de
Ann Sprague Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA sprague [at] lpl.arizona.edu
Magdalena Wilska PAN Space Research Center, Warsaw, Poland mwilska [at] cbk.waw.pl
We have assembled a small but carefully chosen group of internationally renowned experts on modelling, experimentation and observation of thermal emission from airless bodies. With members from seven countries on two continents, the formation of an ISSI team is the focus point needed to assure long-term work continuity.

Thermal Emission Meeting, DLR, Berlin, 9-11 November 2010

Successful Proposal to ISSI (2011 Call)

Thermal Emission Meeting, ISSI, Bern, 26-28 October 2011

Thermal Emission Meeting, ISSI, Bern, 02-04 May 2012

Thermal Emission Meeting, ISSI, Bern, 13-15 Mar 2013

Thermal Emission Meeting, ISSI, Bern, 19-21 Nov 2013

Thermal Emission Meeting, ISSI, Bern, 13-15 May 2014

Publications