A Consensus Report on Recommendations from the 2022 Advancing IDEA in Planetary Science Conference

The Advancing IDEA in Planetary Science Conference was held virtually on April 25 - 29, 2022. A key outcome of this conference was to identify community-led actionable and tangible recommendations to advance IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) principles within the planetary science and astrobiology community. To do this, the conference organized discussions throughout the week into seven Working Groups: (1) Recommendations for Funding Agencies, (2) Recommendations for Universities, (3) Recommendations for Research Groups, (4) Recommendations for Professional Organizations, (5) Recommendations for Employers and about Employment, (6) Recommendations about Safety and Accessibility, and (7) Recommendations about Public Engagement and Outreach. The Working Groups were led by co-facilitators who led asynchronous conversations via Slack and two focused discussion sessions during the conference. After the conference, the Working Groups organized their recommendations into a summary report. This Consensus Report collates and summarizes the recommendations from the seven Working Groups

Physical Characterization of 2015 JD(1) : A Possibly Inhomogeneous Near-Earth Asteroid

The surfaces of airless bodies such as asteroids are exposed to many phenomena that can alter their physical properties. Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission, has demonstrated how complex the surface of a small body can be. In 2019 November, the potentially hazardous asteroid 2015 JD(1) experienced a close approach of 0.033 1 au from the Earth. We present results of the physical characterization of 2015 JD(1) based on ground-based radar, spectroscopy, and photometric observations acquired during 2019 November. Radar polarimetry measurements from the Arecibo Observatory indicate a morphologically complex surface. The delay-Doppler images reveal a contact binary asteroid with an estimated visible extent of similar to 150 m. Our observations suggest that 2015 JD(1) is an E-type asteroid with a surface composition similar to aubrites, a class of differentiated enstatite meteorites. The dynamical properties of 2015 JD(1) suggest that it came from the nu (6) resonance with Jupiter, and spectral comparison with major E-type bodies suggests that it may have been derived from a parental body similar to the progenitor of the E-type (64) Angelina. Significantly, we find rotational spectral variation across the surface of 2015 JD(1) from the red to blue spectral slope. Our compositional analysis suggests that the spectral slope variation could be due to the lack of iron and sulfides in one area of the surface of 2015 JD(1) and/or differences in grain sizes.Peer reviewe

Physical Characterization of 2015 JD(1) : A Possibly Inhomogeneous Near-Earth Asteroid

The surfaces of airless bodies such as asteroids are exposed to many phenomena that can alter their physical properties. Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission, has demonstrated how complex the surface of a small body can be. In 2019 November, the potentially hazardous asteroid 2015 JD(1) experienced a close approach of 0.033 1 au from the Earth. We present results of the physical characterization of 2015 JD(1) based on ground-based radar, spectroscopy, and photometric observations acquired during 2019 November. Radar polarimetry measurements from the Arecibo Observatory indicate a morphologically complex surface. The delay-Doppler images reveal a contact binary asteroid with an estimated visible extent of similar to 150 m. Our observations suggest that 2015 JD(1) is an E-type asteroid with a surface composition similar to aubrites, a class of differentiated enstatite meteorites. The dynamical properties of 2015 JD(1) suggest that it came from the nu (6) resonance with Jupiter, and spectral comparison with major E-type bodies suggests that it may have been derived from a parental body similar to the progenitor of the E-type (64) Angelina. Significantly, we find rotational spectral variation across the surface of 2015 JD(1) from the red to blue spectral slope. Our compositional analysis suggests that the spectral slope variation could be due to the lack of iron and sulfides in one area of the surface of 2015 JD(1) and/or differences in grain sizes.Peer reviewe

Physical characterization of ~2 m diameter near-Earth asteroid 2015 TC25: A possible boulder from E-type asteroid (44) Nysa

Small near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) (<20 m) are interesting, because they are progenitors for meteorites in our terrestrial collection. The physical characteristics of these small NEAs are crucial to our understanding of the effectiveness of our atmosphere in filtering low-strength impactors. In the past, the characterization of small NEAs has been a challenge, because of the difficulty in detecting them prior to close Earth flyby. In this study, we physically characterized the 2 m diameter NEA 2015 TC25 using ground-based optical, near-infrared and radar assets during a close flyby of the Earth (distance 128,000 km) in 2015 October 12. Our observations suggest that its surface composition is similar to aubrites, a rare class of high-albedo differentiated meteorites. Aubrites make up only 0.14% of all known meteorites in our terrestrial meteorite collection. 2015 TC25 is also a very fast rotator with a period of 133 ± 6 s. We combined the spectral and dynamical properties of 2015 TC25 and found the best candidate source body in the inner main belt to be the 70 km diameter E-type asteroid (44) Nysa. We attribute the difference in spectral slope between the two objects to the lack of regolith on the surface of 2015 TC25. Using the albedo of E-type asteroids (50%–60%) we refine the diameter of 2015 TC25 to 2 m, making it one of the smallest NEAs ever to be characterized.V.R. and J.A.S.’s research work was supported by theNASA Near-Earth Object Observations Program grant NNX14AL06G(PI: Reddy). M.K.’s research was funded by NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Grant NAG5-10345(PI: Gaffey). We thank the IRTF TAC for awarding time to this project, and the IRTF TOs and MKSS staff for their support. The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under contract no. NNH14CK55B with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Part of this work was done at the Arecibo Observatory, which is operated by SRI Internationalunder a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation(AST-1100968)and in alliance with Ana G. Mendez Universidad Metropolitana and the Universities Space Research Association. The Arecibo Planetary Radar Program is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- tion under Grant Nos. NNX12AF24G and NNX13AQ46G issued through the Near-Earth Object Observations program. E.A.C. thanks the Canada Foundation for Innovation(CFI), the Manitoba Research Innovation Fund(MRIF), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(NSERC), the Canadian Space Agency(CSA), and the University of Winnipeg for supporting the laboratory work undertaken at the University of Winnipeg’s Planetary Spectrophotometer Facility(PSF).http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-6256/152/6/162/met

Science Opportunities offered by Mercury's Ice-Bearing Polar Deposits

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Radar and Optical Observations and Physical Modeling of Binary Near-Earth Asteroid 2018 EB

We report radar, photometric, and visible-wavelength spectrophotometry observations of NEA 2018 EB obtained in 2018. The radar campaign started at Goldstone (8560 MHz, 3.5 cm) on April 7, and it was followed by more extensive observations from October 5 to 9 by both Arecibo (2380 MHz, 12.6 cm) and Goldstone. 2018 EB was observed optically on April 5, 8, and 9 and again on October 18. Spectrophotometry was obtained on October 19 with the SOAR telescope, and the data suggest that 2018 EB is an Xk-class object. The echo power spectra and delay-Doppler radar images revealed that 2018 EB is a binary system. Radar images constrained the satellite's diameter to 0.15−0.05+0.02 km, but the data were not sufficient for shape modeling. Shape modeling of lightcurves and radar data yielded an oblate primary with an effective diameter D = 0.30 ± 0.04 km and a sidereal rotation period of 4.3−0.5+0.6 hr. Measurements of delay-Doppler separations between the centers of mass of the primary and the satellite, along with the timing of a radar eclipse observed on October 9, resulted in an orbit fit for the satellite with a semimajor axis of 0.50−0.01+0.04 km, an eccentricity of 0.15 ± 0.04, a period of 16.85−0.26+0.33 hr, and an orbit pole constrained to the ecliptic longitudes and latitudes of λ=93−43°+27° and β=48−18°+7° . The system mass was estimated to be 2.03−0.08+0.52×1010 kg, which yielded a bulk density of 1.4−0.5+0.6 g cm−3. Our analysis suggests that 2018 EB has a low optical albedo of p V = 0.028 ± 0.016 and a relatively high radar albedo of η OC = 0.29 ± 0.11 at Arecibo and η = 0.22 ± 0.10 at Goldstone