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Mass spectrometric analysis in planetary science: Investigation of the surface and the atmosphere
Knowing the chemical, elemental, and isotopic composition of planetary objects allows the study of their origin and evolution within the context of...
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Contact Astronomy: Comet Dust
In our solar system, comets are billions, possibly hundreds of billions. They make up a huge, unknown population of primaeval objects, which is...
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Unpredictable Events
Over the course of about a minute on Mar. 19, 2008, keen-eyed observers looking toward the constellation Boötes might have noticed the brief,...
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Creation of Molecules in the Interstellar Medium
Most of the information we have about the cosmos has come to us in the form of electromagnetic radiation—photons—ranging in energy from the very...
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Lunar Net—a proposal in response to an ESA M3 call in 2010 for a medium sized mission
Emplacement of four or more kinetic penetrators geographically distributed over the lunar surface can enable a broad range of scientific exploration...
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Compressive pressure dependent anisotropic effective thermal conductivity of granular beds
In situ planetary thermal conductivity measurements are typically made using a long needle-like probe, which measures effective thermal conductivity...
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MarcoPolo-R near earth asteroid sample return mission
MarcoPolo-R is a sample return mission to a primitive Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) proposed in collaboration with NASA. It will rendezvous with a...
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From chemical to prebiotic evolution
We have seen in Chapter 1 that the biogenic elements were formed in stellar cores and later were expelled by the host star through stellar explosions...
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Nanocrystalline ceria based materials—Perspectives for biomedical application
Nanocrystalline ceria possesses a unique complex of physical and chemical properties making it highly bioactive material. In this review, modern data...
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Space missions to small bodies: asteroids and cometary nuclei
The knowledge of the physical and dynamical properties, distribution, formation, and evolution of small bodies is fundamental to understand how...
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Microscope spectrometer for the Phobos-Grunt mission
Microscopy and spectroscopy are important methods of studies. The use of a microscope onboard a spacecraft is connected with the fact that the closer...
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1608 - 1708 The Dawn of Astronomy New Vistas and Cosmic Laws
In the outer regions of a spiral galaxy, somewhere on the edge of the Virgo cluster, a star explodes. Shock waves from the supernova explosion cause...
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Comets, Their Orbits, and Where They Hide!
Within the visible universe our solar system occupies a very local region of space. Sunlight reflected from the distant planet Neptune takes only 4 h...
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Rosetta—one comet rendezvous and two asteroid fly-bys
One of the two planetary cornerstone missions of the European Space Agency is the Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta is a...
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Lunar Beagle and Lunar Astrobiology
The study of the elements and molecules of astrobiological interest on the Moon can be made with the Gas Analysis Package (GAP) and associated...
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The Strength of Cometary Surface Material: Relevance of Deep Impact Results for Philae Landing on a Comet
We discuss the Deep Impact estimates of strength of the surface material of comet Tempel 1. It appears doubtful that the tensile strength is as low...
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The Dawn Framing Camera
The Framing Camera (FC) is the German contribution to the Dawn mission. The camera will map 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres through a clear filter and 7...