| 1. |
- Coustenis, A., et al.
(författare)
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TandEM : Titan and Enceladus mission
- 2009
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Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 23:3, s. 893-946
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- TandEM was proposed as an L-class (large) mission in response to ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Call, and accepted for further studies, with the goal of exploring Titan and Enceladus. The mission concept is to perform in situ investigations of two worlds tied together by location and properties, whose remarkable natures have been partly revealed by the ongoing Cassini-Huygens mission. These bodies still hold mysteries requiring a complete exploration using a variety of vehicles and instruments. TandEM is an ambitious mission because its targets are two of the most exciting and challenging bodies in the Solar System. It is designed to build on but exceed the scientific and technological accomplishments of the Cassini-Huygens mission, exploring Titan and Enceladus in ways that are not currently possible (full close-up and in situ coverage over long periods of time). In the current mission architecture, TandEM proposes to deliver two medium-sized spacecraft to the Saturnian system. One spacecraft would be an orbiter with a large host of instruments which would perform several Enceladus flybys and deliver penetrators to its surface before going into a dedicated orbit around Titan alone, while the other spacecraft would carry the Titan in situ investigation components, i.e. a hot-air balloon (MontgolfiSre) and possibly several landing probes to be delivered through the atmosphere.
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| 2. |
- Tinetti, Giovanna, et al.
(författare)
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The EChO science case
- 2015
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Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 40:2-3, s. 329-391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune-all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10(-4) relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength coverage of at least 0.55 to 11 mu m with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 mu m. Only modest spectral resolving power is needed, with R similar to 300 for wavelengths less than 5 mu m and R similar to 30 for wavelengths greater than this. The transit spectroscopy technique means that no spatial resolution is required. A telescope collecting area of about 1 m(2) is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision: for the Phase A study a 1.13 m(2) telescope, diffraction limited at 3 mu m has been adopted. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. EChO has been conceived to achieve a single goal: exoplanet spectroscopy. The spectral coverage and signal-to-noise to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would be a game changer by allowing atmospheric composition to be measured with unparalleled exactness: at least a factor 10 more precise and a factor 10 to 1000 more accurate than current observations. This would enable the detection of molecular abundances three orders of magnitude lower than currently possible and a fourfold increase from the handful of molecules detected to date. Combining these data with estimates of planetary bulk compositions from accurate measurements of their radii and masses would allow degeneracies associated with planetary interior modelling to be broken, giving unique insight into the interior structure and elemental abundances of these alien worlds. EChO would allow scientists to study exoplanets both as a population and as individuals. The mission can target super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300-3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. The EChO core science would be delivered by a three-tier survey. The EChO Chemical Census: This is a broad survey of a few-hundred exoplanets, which allows us to explore the spectroscopic and chemical diversity of the exoplanet population as a whole. The EChO Origin: This is a deep survey of a subsample of tens of exoplanets for which significantly higher signal to noise and spectral resolution spectra can be obtained to explain the origin of the exoplanet diversity (such as formation mechanisms, chemical processes, atmospheric escape). The EChO Rosetta Stones: This is an ultra-high accuracy survey targeting a subsample of select exoplanets. These will be the bright "benchmark" cases for which a large number of measurements would be taken to explore temporal variations, and to obtain two and three dimensional spatial information on the atmospheric conditions through eclipse-mapping techniques. If EChO were launched today, the exoplanets currently observed are sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. The Chemical Census survey would consist of > 160 exoplanets with a range of planetary sizes, temperatures, orbital parameters and stellar host properties. Additionally, over the next 10 years, several new ground- and space-based transit photometric surveys and missions will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO's launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets.
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| 3. |
- Tinetti, G., et al.
(författare)
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EChO : Exoplanet characterisation observatory
- 2012
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Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 34:2, s. 311-353
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres represents a major milestone in our quest to understand our place in the universe by placing our Solar System in context and by addressing the suitability of planets for the presence of life. EChO-the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory-is a mission concept specifically geared for this purpose. EChO will provide simultaneous, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations on a stable platform that will allow very long exposures. The use of passive cooling, few moving parts and well established technology gives a low-risk and potentially long-lived mission. EChO will build on observations by Hubble, Spitzer and ground-based telescopes, which discovered the first molecules and atoms in exoplanetary atmospheres. However, EChO's configuration and specifications are designed to study a number of systems in a consistent manner that will eliminate the ambiguities affecting prior observations. EChO will simultaneously observe a broad enough spectral region-from the visible to the mid-infrared-to constrain from one single spectrum the temperature structure of the atmosphere, the abundances of the major carbon and oxygen bearing species, the expected photochemically-produced species and magnetospheric signatures. The spectral range and resolution are tailored to separate bands belonging to up to 30 molecules and retrieve the composition and temperature structure of planetary atmospheres. The target list for EChO includes planets ranging from Jupiter-sized with equilibrium temperatures Teq up to 2,000 K, to those of a few Earth masses, with Teq \u223c 300 K. The list will include planets with no Solar System analog, such as the recently discovered planets GJ1214b, whose density lies between that of terrestrial and gaseous planets, or the rocky-iron planet 55 Cnc e, with day-side temperature close to 3,000 K. As the number of detected exoplanets is growing rapidly each year, and the mass and radius of those detected steadily decreases, the target list will be constantly adjusted to include the most interesting systems. We have baselined a dispersive spectrograph design covering continuously the 0. 4-16 μm spectral range in 6 channels (1 in the visible, 5 in the InfraRed), which allows the spectral resolution to be adapted from several tens to several hundreds, depending on the target brightness. The instrument will be mounted behind a 1. 5 m class telescope, passively cooled to 50 K, with the instrument structure and optics passively cooled to \u223c45 K. EChO will be placed in a grand halo orbit around L2. This orbit, in combination with an optimised thermal shield design, provides a highly stable thermal environment and a high degree of visibility of the sky to observe repeatedly several tens of targets over the year. Both the baseline and alternative designs have been evaluated and no critical items with Technology Readiness Level (TRL) less than 4-5 have been identified. We have also undertaken a first-order cost and development plan analysis and find that EChO is easily compatible with the ESA M-class mission framework. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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| 4. |
- Tinetti, Giovanna, et al.
(författare)
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The science of EChO
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. - 1743-9213 .- 1743-9221. ; 6:S276, s. 359-370
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The science of extra-solar planets is one of the most rapidly changing areas of astrophysics and since 1995 the number of planets known has increased by almost two orders of magnitude. A combination of ground-based surveys and dedicated space missions has resulted in 560-plus planets being detected, and over 1200 that await confirmation. NASA's Kepler mission has opened up the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around some of the 100,000 stars it is surveying during its 3 to 4-year lifetime. The new ESA's Gaia mission is expected to discover thousands of new planets around stars within 200 parsecs of the Sun. The key challenge now is moving on from discovery, important though that remains, to characterisation: what are these planets actually like, and why are they as they are In the past ten years, we have learned how to obtain the first spectra of exoplanets using transit transmission and emission spectroscopy. With the high stability of Spitzer, Hubble, and large ground-based telescopes the spectra of bright close-in massive planets can be obtained and species like water vapour, methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide have been detected. With transit science came the first tangible remote sensing of these planetary bodies and so one can start to extrapolate from what has been learnt from Solar System probes to what one might plan to learn about their faraway siblings. As we learn more about the atmospheres, surfaces and near-surfaces of these remote bodies, we will begin to build up a clearer picture of their construction, history and suitability for life. The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, EChO, will be the first dedicated mission to investigate the physics and chemistry of Exoplanetary Atmospheres. By characterising spectroscopically more bodies in different environments we will take detailed planetology out of the Solar System and into the Galaxy as a whole. EChO has now been selected by the European Space Agency to be assessed as one of four M3 mission candidates. © International Astronomical Union 2011.
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| 5. |
- Wahlund, Jan Erik, et al.
(författare)
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On the amount of heavy molecular ions in Titan's ionosphere
- 2009
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Ingår i: Planetary and Space Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0032-0633 .- 1873-5088. ; 57:14-15, s. 1857-1865
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present observational evidence that the ionosphere of Titan below an altitude of 1150 km is a significant source of heavy (> 100 amu) molecular organic species. This study is based on measurements by five instruments (RPWS/LP, RPWS/E, INMS, CAPS/ELS, CAPS/IBS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft during three flybys (T17, T18, T32) of Titan. The ionospheric peaks encountered at altitudes of 950-1300 km had densities in the range 900-3000 cm(-3). Below these peaks the number densities of heavy positively charged ions reached 100-2000 cm(-3) and approached 50-70% of the total ionospheric density with an increasing trend toward lowest measured altitudes. Simultaneously measured negatively charged ion densities were in the range 50-150 cm(-3). These results imply that similar to 10(5)similar to 10(6) heavy positively charged ions/m(3)/s are continuously recombining into heavy neutrals and supply the atmosphere of Titan. The ionosphere may in this way produce 0.1-1 Mt/yr of heavy organic compounds and is therefore a sizable source for aerosol formation. We also predict that Titan's ionosphere is dominated by heavy (> 100 amu) molecular ions below 950 km.
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| 6. |
- Cui, J., et al.
(författare)
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Diurnal variations of Titan's ionosphere
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 114:6, s. A06310-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present our analysis of the diurnal variations of Titan's ionosphere (between 1000 and 1300 km) based on a sample of Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements in the Open Source Ion (OSI) mode obtained from eight close encounters of the Cassini spacecraft with Titan. Although there is an overall ion depletion well beyond the terminator, the ion content on Titan's nightside is still appreciable, with a density plateau of similar to 700 cm(-3) below similar to 1300 km. Such a plateau is a combined result of significant depletion of light ions and modest depletion of heavy ones on Titan's nightside. We propose that the distinctions between the diurnal variations of light and heavy ions are associated with their different chemical loss pathways, with the former primarily through "fast'' ion-neutral chemistry and the latter through "slow'' electron dissociative recombination. The strong correlation between the observed night-to-day ion density ratios and the associated ion lifetimes suggests a scenario in which the ions created on Titan's dayside may survive well to the nightside. The observed asymmetry between the dawn and dusk ion density profiles also supports such an interpretation. We construct a time-dependent ion chemistry model to investigate the effect of ion survival associated with solid body rotation alone as well as superrotating horizontal winds. For long-lived ions, the predicted diurnal variations have similar general characteristics to those observed. However, for short-lived ions, the model densities on the nightside are significantly lower than the observed values. This implies that electron precipitation from Saturn's magnetosphere may be an additional and important contributor to the densities of the short-lived ions observed on Titan's nightside.
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| 7. |
- Moore, L., et al.
(författare)
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Models of Saturn's Equatorial Ionosphere Based on In Situ Data From Cassini's Grand Finale
- 2018
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - : AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 45:18, s. 9398-9407
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present new models of Saturn's equatorial ionosphere based on the first in situ measurements of its upper atmosphere. The neutral spectrum measured by Cassini's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, which includes substantial methane, ammonia, and organics in addition to the anticipated molecular hydrogen, helium, and water, serves as input for unexpectedly complex ionospheric chemistry. Heavy molecular ions are found to dominate Saturn's equatorial low-altitude ionosphere, with a mean ion mass of 11Da. Key molecular ions include H3O+ and HCO+; other abundant heavy ions depend upon the makeup of the mass 28 neutral species, which cannot be uniquely determined. Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer neutral species lead to generally good agreement between modeled and observed plasma densities, though poor reproduction of measured H+ and H-3(+) variability and an overabundance of modeled H-3(+) potentially hint at missing physical processes in the model, including a loss process that affects H-3(+) but not H+. Plain Language Summary Cassini's Grand Finale enabled the first-ever direct measurements of Saturn's upper atmosphere. Here we use Cassini's unique measurements to construct new models of the plasma in this important boundary region that separates the dense lower atmosphere from space. Based on the complex array of observed gases, we find that heavy molecular ions are dominant near Saturn's equator. This surprising result demonstrates that the chemistry in Saturn's equatorial upper atmosphere is substantially more complex than anticipated. The presence of these unexpected ions potentially represents a new method of monitoring Saturn's ionosphere remotely. Furthermore, as other Cassini measurements indicate that the complex chemistry is likely driven by an influx of ring-derived material, such observations may even help to track the evolution of Saturn's rings as they lose mass to its atmosphere.
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| 8. |
- Rosenqvist, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Titan ionospheric conductivities from Cassini measurements
- 2009
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Ingår i: Planetary and Space Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0032-0633 .- 1873-5088. ; 57:14-15, s. 1828-1833
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first results of ionospheric conductivities at Titan based on measurements during 17 Titan flybys from the Cassini spacecraft. We identify an ionospheric region ranging from 1450 95 km (approximately the location of the exobase) to approximately 1000 km where electrical currents perpendicular to the magnetic field may become important. In this region the ionosphere is highly conductive with peak Pedersen conductivities of 0.002-0.05 S/m and peak Hall conductivities of 0.01-0.3 S/m depending on Solar illumination and magnetospheric conditions. Ionospheric conductivities are found to be typically higher on the sunlit side of Titan. However, Hall and Pedersen conductivities depend strongly on the magnetic field magnitude which is highly variable, both in altitude and with respect to the draping configuration of Saturn's magnetic field around Titan. Furthermore, a consistent double peak nature is found in the altitude profile of the Pedersen conductivity. A high altitude peak is found to be located between 1300 and 1400 km. A second and typically more conductive region is observed below 1000 km, where the magnetic field strength drops sharply while the electron density still remains high. This nature of the Pedersen conductivity profile may give rise to complicated ionospheric-atmospheric dynamics and may be expected also at other unmagnetized objects with a substantial atmosphere, such as e.g. Mars and Venus. Estimates of the total Pedersen conductance are found to range between 1300 and 22,000 S. The Pedersen conductance is always higher than the local Alfven conductance but the difference varies by two orders of magnitude (from a factor 4 to 100). Thus, the conditions for reflection or absorption of Alfven waves in Titans ionosphere are highly variable and depends strongly on the magnetic field strength.
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| 9. |
- Vigren, E., et al.
(författare)
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On the thermal electron balance in Titan's sunlit upper atmosphere
- 2013
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Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 0019-1035 .- 1090-2643. ; 223:1, s. 234-251
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Cassini mission has investigated Titan's upper atmosphere in detail and found that, under solar irradiation, it has a well-developed ionosphere, which peaks between 1000 and 1200km. In this paper we focus on the T40, T41, T42 and T48 Titan flybys by the Cassini spacecraft and use in situ measurements of N2 and CH4 densities by the Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) as input into a solar energy deposition model to determine electron production rates. We combine these electron production rates with estimates of the effective recombination coefficient based on available laboratory data for Titan ions' dissociative recombination rates and electron temperatures derived from the Langmuir probe (LP) to predict electron number densities in Titan's upper atmosphere, assuming photochemical equilibrium and loss of electrons exclusively through dissociative recombination with molecular ions. We then compare these predicted electron number densities with those observed in Titan's upper atmosphere by the LP. The assumption of photochemical equilibrium is supported by a reasonable agreement between the altitudes where the electron densities are observed to peak and where the electron production rates are calculated to peak (roughly corresponding to the unit optical depth for HeII photons at 30.38nm). We find, however, that the predicted electron number densities are nearly a factor of two higher than those observed throughout the altitude range between 1050 and 1200km (where we have made estimates of the effective recombination coefficient). There are different possible reasons for this discrepancy; one possibility is that there may be important loss processes of free electrons other than dissociative recombination in Titan's upper atmosphere.
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| 10. |
- Ågren, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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On the ionospheric structure of Titan
- 2009
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Ingår i: Planetary and Space Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0032-0633 .- 1873-5088. ; 57:14-15, s. 1821-1827
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study we present data from 17 Titan flybys showing that solar photons are the main ionisation source of Titan's dayside atmosphere. This is the first comprehensive study of Solar Zenith Angle (SZA) dependence of the electron number density and electron temperature at the ionospheric peak. The results show on average four times more plasma on the dayside compared to the nightside, with typical dayside electron densities of around 2500-3500 cm(-3) and corresponding nightside densities of around 400-1000 cm(-3). We identify a broad transition region between SZA 50 degrees and 100 degrees, where the ionosphere of Titan changes from being entirely sunlit to being in the shadow of the moon. For SZA <50 degrees the ionisation peak altitude increases with increasing SZA, whereas the transition region and the nightside show more scattered ionospheric peak altitudes. Typical electron temperatures at the ionospheric peak are 0.03-0.06 eV (approximate to 350-700 K) for both dayside and nightside. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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