27 research outputs found
Investigation of the concentration and isotopic composition of inputs and outputs of Pb in waters at an upland catchment in NE Scotland
Space as a Tool for Astrobiology: Review and Recommendations for Experimentations in Earth Orbit and Beyond
Application of gel electrophoretic techniques to the investigation of actinide-humic interactions in soils
SedimentâWater Interactions in an Eroded and Heavy Metal Contaminated Peatland Catchment, Southern Pennines, UK
Sample return of primitive matter from the outer Solar System
The last thirty years of cosmochemistry and planetary science have shown that one major Solar System reservoir is vastly undersampled in the available suite of extra-terrestrial materials, namely small bodies that formed in the outer Solar System (>10 AU). Because various dynamical evolutionary processes have modified their initial orbits (e.g., giant planet migration, resonances), these objects can be found today across the entire Solar System as P/D near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter and Neptune Trojans, comets, Centaurs, and small (diameterâ<â200 km) trans-Neptunian objects. This reservoir is of tremendous interest, as it is recognized as the least processed since the dawn of the Solar System and thus the closest to the starting materials from which the Solar System formed. Some of the next major breakthroughs in planetary science will come from studying outer Solar System samples (volatiles and refractory constituents) in the laboratory. Yet, this can only be achieved by an L-class mission that directly collects and returns to Earth materials from this reservoir. It is thus not surprising that two White Papers advocating a sample return mission of a primitive Solar System small body (ideally a comet) were submitted to ESA in response to its Voyage 2050 call for ideas for future L-class missions in the 2035-2050 time frame. One of these two White Papers is presented in this article
Infrared detection of aliphatic organics on a cometary nucleus
International audienceThe ESA Rosetta mission1 has acquired unprecedented measurements of comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenkoâs (hereafter 67P) nucleus surface, whose composition, as determined by in situ and remote sensing instruments including VIRTIS (Visible, InfraRed and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer)2 appears to be made by an assemblage of ices, minerals, and organic material3 . We performed a refined analysis of infrared observations of the nucleus of comet 67P carried out by 2 the VIRTIS-M hyperspectral imager. We found that the overall shape of the 67P infrared spectrum is similar to that of other carbon-rich outer solar system objects suggesting a possible genetic link with them. More importantly, we are also able to confirm the complex spectral structure of the wide 2.8-3.6 ”m absorption feature populated by fainter bands. Among these, we unambiguously identified the presence of aliphatic organics by their ubiquitous 3.38, 3.42 and 3.47 ”m bands. This novel infrared detection of aliphatic species on a cometary surface has strong implications for the evolutionary history of the primordial solar system and give evidence that comets provide an evolutionary link between interstellar material and solar system bodies