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According to current theories of the formation of stellar systems, comets belong to the oldest and most pristine class of bodies to be found around a star. When approaching the Sun, the nucleus shows increasing activity and a pressure increase inside the material causes sublimated and trapped gas molecules to stream away from their regions of origin towards the surface. The present work studies two essential mechanisms of gas transport through a porous layer, namely the Darcy and the Knudsen flow. Gas flow measurements are performed in the laboratory with several analogue materials, which are mimicking dry cometary surface properties. In this first series of measurements, the aim was to separate gas transport properties from internal sources like local sublimation or release of trapped gases. Therefore, only dry granular materials were used and maintaining a low temperature environment was unnecessary. The gas permeability and the Knudsen diffusion coefficient of the sample materials are obtained, thereby representing the relative importance of the respective flow mechanism. The experiments performed with air at a stable room temperature show that the grain size distribution and the packing density of the sample play a major role for the permeability of the sample. The larger the grains, the bigger the permeability and the Knudsen diffusion coefficient. From the latter, we estimated effective pore diameters. Finally, we explain how these parameters can be adapted to obtain the gas flow properties of the investigated analogue materials under the conditions to be expected on the comet.

International audience; We present a study of plasma conditions in the atmospheres of the Hot Jupiters HD 209458b and HD 189733b and for an HD 209458b like planet at orbit locations between 0.2 and 1 au around a Sun-like star. We discuss how these conditions influence the radio emission we expect from their magnetospheres. We find that the environmental conditions are such that the cyclotron maser instability (CMI), the process responsible for the generation of radio waves at magnetic planets in the Solar system, most likely will not operate at Hot Jupiters. Hydrodynamically expanding atmospheres possess extended ionospheres whose plasma densities within the magnetosphere are so large that the plasma frequency is much higher than the cyclotron frequency, which contradicts the condition for the production of radio emission and prevents the escape of radio waves from close-in exoplanets at distances

Context. The Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO) was one of the key instruments of the Rosetta mission, which acquired a wealth of data, in particular as the orbiter moved in the close environment of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (August 2014–September 2016). It was the only instrument of the Rosetta payload that was able to measure temperatures in the near-subsurface layers of the cometary nucleus down to a depth of some centimeters. This range is most relevant for understanding the mechanisms of cometary activity. Aims. We simulate the 3D temperature distribution for two selected regions that were observed by MIRO in March 2015 when the comet was at a distance of about 2 au from the Sun. The importance of a full 3D treatment for a realistic subsurface temperature distribution and the thermal heat balance in the uppermost subsurface is investigated in comparison with analogous 1D simulations. Methods. For this purpose, we developed a numerical heat transfer model of the surface as well as the near-subsurface regions. It enabled us to solve the heat transfer equation in the subsurface volume with appropriate radiation boundary conditions taken into account. The comparison with 1D simulations was made on the basis of the same solar irradiation history. Results. Although the temperature gradient is predominantly normal to the comet surface, we still find that tangential flows may be responsible for local temperature differences of up to 30 K (a few Kelvin on the average) in the uppermost subsurface layers. From the results of the 3D simulations, we calculated the MIRO antenna temperature. A comparison with the actual measurements shows good agreement for the MIRO submillimeter channel, but there is a notable discrepancy for the millimeter channel. This last assessment is not related to the use of the 3D model; potential causes are discussed in some detail with a view to future studies.

The thermo-mechanical properties of planetary surface and subsurface layers control to a high extent in which way a body interacts with its environment, in particular how it responds to solar irradiation and how it interacts with a potentially existing atmosphere. Furthermore, if the natural temperature profile over a certain depth can be measured in situ, this gives important information about the heat flux from the interior and thus about the thermal evolution of the body. Therefore, in most of the recent and planned planetary lander missions experiment packages for determining thermo-mechanical properties are part of the payload. Examples are the experiment MUPUS on Rosetta's comet lander Philae, the TECP instrument aboard NASA's Mars polar lander Phoenix, and the mole-type instrument HP3 currently developed for use on upcoming lunar and Mars missions. In this review we describe several methods applied for measuring thermal conductivity and heat flux and discuss the particular difficulties faced when these properties have to be measured in a low pressure and low temperature environment. We point out the abilities and disadvantages of the different instruments and outline the evaluation procedures necessary to extract reliable thermal conductivity and heat flux data from in situ measurements., Highlights ► Numerical simulation of the thermal history of a planetary body. ► Development of robust thermal conductivity sensors for planetary applications. ► Measurement of the global heat flow of a planet or small planetary body.

This paper introduces and describes the radio and plasma wave investigation on the STEREO Mission: STEREO/WAVES or S/WAVES. The S/WAVES instrument includes a suite of state-of-the-art experiments that provide comprehensive measurements of the three components of the fluctuating electric field from a fraction of a hertz up to 16 MHz, plus a single frequency channel near 30 MHz. The instrument has a direction finding or goniopolarimetry capability to perform 3D localization and tracking of radio emissions associated with streams of energetic electrons and shock waves associated with Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). The scientific objectives include: (i) remote observation and measurement of radio waves excited by energetic particles throughout the 3D heliosphere that are associated with the CMEs and with solar flare phenomena, and (ii) in-situ measurement of the properties of CMEs and interplanetary shocks, such as their electron density and temperature and the associated plasma waves near 1 Astronomical Unit (AU). Two companion papers provide details on specific aspects of the S/WAVES instrument, namely the electric antenna system (Bale et al., Space Sci. Rev., 2007) and the direction finding technique (Cecconi et al., Space Sci. Rev., 2007).

International audience; The STEREO/WAVES experiment is designed to measure the electric component of radio emission from interplanetary radio bursts and in situ plasma waves and fluctuations in the solar wind. Interplanetary radio bursts are generated from electron beams at interplanetary shocks and solar flares and are observed from near the Sun to 1 AU, corresponding to frequencies of approximately 16 MHz to 10 kHz. In situ plasma waves occur in a range of wavelengths larger than the Debye length in the solar wind plasma lambda D ≈10 m and appear Doppler-shifted into the frequency regime down to a fraction of a Hertz. These phenomena are measured by STEREO/WAVES with a set of three orthogonal electric monopole antennas. This paper describes the electrical and mechanical design of the antenna system and discusses efforts to model the antenna pattern and response and methods for in-flight calibration.

The STEREO/WAVES experiment is considered to provide measurements of the non-thermal radio spectrum from a few kHz up to about 16 MHz, performed by three 6-m long orthogonal monopole antennas and a set of receivers (fixed-, high-, and low frequency receiver). This system performs real-time calculation of antenna voltage coherence products and, then, enables the determination of direction of arrival and polarization state of incident radio waves. Analysis of such kind of antenna system is necessary in order to define the reception properties which crucially depend on the overall spacecraft configuration. The concept of effective length vector ( h eff ) determination is applied to yield corresponding information on the deviation of h eff from the physical rods, in dependence of frequency. Various methods are evaluated (rheometry for frequencies up to 1 MHz), wire-grid modelling and in-flight calibration, and their implication to the SWAVES experiment are discussed.

The search for lightning on Saturn's satellite Titan is one scientific target of the Cassini/Huygens mission. Although Voyager 1 did not detect any radio emissions caused by Titan lightning during its flyby in November 1980, one cannot generally rule out their existence, because of low flash rates or ionospheric radiation blockade. Recently, Tokano et al. (Planet. Space Sci. 49 (2001a) 539) have developed a thundercloud model in Titan's troposphere favoring the existence of Titan lightning due to negatively charged clouds causing temporary electric fields sufficient to initiate cloud-to-ground lightning strokes. In the present investigation we estimate the amount of energy dissipation of such lightning strokes by electrostatic energy considerations similarly to those by Cooray (J. Geophys. Res. 102(D17) (1997) 21,401). The analysis is based on the cloud charge distribution given by Tokano et al. (2001a), which has a monopole structure or a dipole structure depending on the electrification mechanism. It consists of horizontally homogenous charge layers, whose charge densities depend on the altitude above ground. As results we get the typical charge lowered in a possible Titan lightning stroke and the amount of energy dissipation. For a simulated Titan monopolar cloud charged by electron attachment we found that cloud-to-ground strokes lower about 30 C of charge and dissipate energies about 10 10 J . For the modelled bipolar clouds charged by collisional charging these values are a few C of lowered charge and about 108–109J of dissipated energy, which are quite similar to typical Earth values. These energies are substantially higher than the energies suggested by Desch and Kaiser (Nature 343 (1990) 442), who concluded from the Voyager data that discharges might be frequent but weak ( 16 MHz during the propagation through Titan's ionosphere as calculated by Schwingenschuh et al. (Adv. Space Res. 28(10) (2001) 1505).

It is well known that in contrast to the Alfven wave, which is propagating strictly along the direction of the magnetic field, a slow mode wave shows a deviation from the ambient magnetic field. This deviation is determined by the dispersion equation for the slow mode wave. With the help of this dispersion equation we present a theoretical study of the spatial and temporal evolution of an initial pressure disturbance in a homogeneous and constant background magnetic field. The main factor determining the amount of the deviation is the so-called plasma beta, i.e., the ratio of magnetic to thermal energy, which is investigated quantitatively. We obtain that for a low beta plasma, the disturbance propagates more or less strictly along the magnetic field. However, for increasing beta the disturbances across the magnetic field gets stronger. These results can be applied to magnetospheric phenomena, where slow shocks may play a role as a kind of energy carrier as in the case of the Io–Jupiter interaction or magnetic field line reconnection.

The first — and possibly deepest — in situ science measurements on the 46P/Wirtanen nucleus will be made by two sensors of the Rosetta Lander's MUPUS experiment. A piezoelectric shock accelerometer (ANC-M) and a resistance temperature sensor (ANC-T) will be mounted in the Lander's harpoon anchor. This will be shot into the surface at about 60 m s −1 on touchdown, reaching a final depth of between a few centimetres and about 2.5 m, depending on the hardness of the ground and the maximum available cable length. Early indications of the strength of the surface material and any distinct layers should prove valuable to subsequent depth-sensitive investigations, including the MUPUS thermal probe, seismic sounding experiments, the sampling drill and composition analyses of the extracted material. Interpretation of the ANC-M data will help to constrain models of the formation and evolution of the material found at the landing site and document the mechanical and structural context of nearby sampled material. We report on the results of recent test shots performed with a prototype anchor into several porous materials: two types of glass foam, H2O ice and CO2 ice. With the help of data from direct shear tests and quasi-static penetration tests, we interpret the processed deceleration data using a cavity-expansion penetration model. Layers of distinctly different strengths can be detected and located, and the deceleration profiles are in reasonable agreement with the profiles obtained by quasi-static tests. The anchor projectile's long sharp tip tends to smear out the boundaries, however. In applying the penetration model we found that the coefficient of sliding friction and the target's volumetric strain have a much stronger influence on the deceleration profile than the initial target density and angle of internal friction. Very small values of volumetric strain (corresponding to high ‘drag coefficient’) were required to fit deceleration profiles to the measured data for the glass foam, contrary to what we initially expected by inspecting the thin layer of crushed material around the walls of the penetrated channel. We interpret this to mean that such brittle, porous materials as the glass foam (and perhaps highly porous, brittle, cryogenic ice) do not exhibit plastic deformation before failing completely by the crushing of cell walls. The decelerating forces are thus thought to be dominated by momentum transfer to the crushed material and by the crushing strength of the cellular microstructure, rather than by the force required to deform the target plastically. The cavity-expansion model seems to be well-suited to the ice shots, but for the brittle, cellular glass foam, alternative approaches, taking into account the material's microstructure, are needed. As a first step in this direction, a microstructural model linking textural properties of the material (pore and grain size, and relative contact area between grains) is applied to the glass foam data, obtained from quasi-static penetration tests and from direct shear strength tests. It is demonstrated that the dependence of strength on porosity can be well represented by the model suggested. A microstructural model for sintered ices, relating strength properties to porosity and thermal properties, would be useful for interpretation of MUPUS ANC-M data in the context of other physical properties measurements. The work presented here may also have some relevance to the design of future comet landers or penetrators. The harpoon anchor/penetrometer approach could be employed on other minor body landing missions, while the modelling technique is similar in many ways to that appropriate for other penetrometers/penetrators.

In the years 2011–2013 the ESA mission Rosetta will explore the short period comet 46P/Wirtanen. The aims of the mission include investigation of the physical and chemical properties of the cometary nucleus and also the evolutionary processes of comets. It is planned to land a small probe on the surface of the comet, carrying a multitude of sensors devoted to in situ investigation of the material at the landing site. On touchdown at the nucleus, an anchoring harpoon will be fired into the surface to avoid a rebound of the lander and to supply a reaction force against mechanical operations such as sample drilling or instrument platform motion. The anchor should also prevent an ejection of the lander due to gas drag from sublimating volatiles when the comet becomes more active closer to the Sun. In this paper, we report on the development of one of the sensors of the MUPUS instrument aboard the Rosetta Lander, the MUPUS ANC-M (mechanical properties) sensor. Its purpose is to measure the deceleration of the anchor harpoon during penetration into the cometary soil. First the test facilities at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, are briefly described. Subsequently, we analyse several accelerometer signals obtained from test shots into various target materials. A procedure for signal reduction is described and possible errors that may be superimposed on the true acceleration or deceleration of the anchor are discussed in depth, with emphasis on the occurrence of zero line offsets in the signals. Finally, the influence of high-frequency resonant oscillations of the anchor body on the signals is discussed and difficulties faced when trying to derive grain sizes of granular target materials are considered. It is concluded that with the sampling rates used in this and several other space experiments currently under way or under development a reasonable resolution of strength distribution in soil layers can be achieved, but conclusions concerning grain size distribution would probably demand much higher sampling rates.

We study the frequency and time variations of Jovian hectometric emissions (HOM) recorded by the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) experiment onboard the Cassini spacecraft during its Jupiter flyby. The capabilities of the RPWS experiment enable us to analyze the intensity extinction of HOM radiation, the so-called attenuation band. Using about 7 weeks of RPWS data obtained around the closest approach, a statistical analysis investigates the spectral variations of this phenomenon with respect to the spacecraft magnetic latitude and central meridian longitude. We show that the 'trace' of the attenuation band is usually not a full sinusoid as reported in previous studies and only parts of the curve are observed. Also, the intensity extinction can occur when the spacecraft is not in the planetary magnetic equator plane. This specific feature appears or vanishes when the observer (e.g., Cassini or Galileo spacecraft) is far from or close to the planet, respectively. The regular and systematic observations of the attenuation band suggest that the plasma medium at the origin of these features is steady and stable. The Io torus may be considered to be the most probable plasma medium where HOM emission is refracted through its raypath propagation. Furthermore, intensity extinction at frequencies higher than 3 MHz and up to 5 MHz implies the presence of particular electronic density irregularities in the Io torus. Volcanic activity, particularly in the northern hemisphere of the Io satellite, may be the source of such Io torus plasma irregularities.

[1] We present a Monte Carlo study of the atomic hot oxygen corona of Venus. In this model we consider elastic, inelastic, and quenching collisions between the traced hot particle and the ambient neutral atmosphere as well as differential cross sections to determine the scattering angle in the collisions. We also include rotational and vibrational excitation energies for the calculation of the initial energy of the produced hot oxygen atoms. Our results indicate that the differential cross sections and the fraction between elastic, inelastic, and quenching collisions are the most sensitive parameters which effect the corona density. We found that the hot O densities inferred from PVO observations can only be reproduced during high solar activity based on a forward scattering model but without inelastic and quenching collisions. The corona densities for low solar activity (VEX solar conditions) are about a factor of 2–3 smaller than for high solar activity.

[1] The high-inclination orbits of the Cassini spacecraft from autumn 2006 until spring 2007 allowed the Cassini/RPWS (Radio and Plasma Wave Science) instrument to observe Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR) from latitudes up to 60° for the first time. This has revealed a surprising new property of SKR: above ∼30° in observational latitude, a significant amount of SKR is strongly elliptically polarized, in marked contrast to previous observations from low latitudes, which showed only circular polarization. There are transitional latitudes where the elliptical polarization occurs in “patches” in the time-frequency spectrograms next to regions of still completely circularly polarized SKR. From ∼45° to 60° in northern latitude, it is found that most of the SKR is elliptically polarized throughout its entire frequency range with an average degree of ∼0.7 in linear polarization. We demonstrate the ellipticity of SKR by using the concept of “apparent polarization” in case of two-antenna measurements, but also show three-antenna measurements from which the polarization can be unambiguously determined. Possible reasons for the variation of SKR polarization with the observer's latitude will be discussed.

International audience; On October 25th, 2006, NASA's two STEREO spacecraft were launched which are designed to increase our knowledge of the physics of the solar system. On board they carry a sophisticated radio experiment, called S/WAVES. The key technology, used by S/WAVES is the direction finding capability in addition to the use of two spacecraft which makes it possible to triangulate radio sources. Direction finding requires the reception properties of the antennas to be known very accurately. We applied several different methods to calibrate the S/WAVES antennas. In this paper the methods are described and compared and the results are presented and discussed with respect to advantages and disadvantages of the different methods.

[1] Early in 2006 the RPWS (Radio and Plasma Wave Science) instrument and the ISS (Imaging Science Subsystem) onboard the Cassini spacecraft detected a lightning storm on Saturn that lasted for about one month. The RPWS measured the so-called SEDs (Saturn Electrostatic Discharges), which are high frequency radio signals produced by lightning discharges. The ISS imaged a remarkable cloud system associated with these SEDs at a latitude of 35° South. Below the frequency of 1825 kHz the RPWS was in a mode capable of measuring the polarization of the SEDs. A surprising result was gained; SEDs appeared to be highly polarized (80%) and were exclusively right-handed polarized with a high degree of circular polarization. We will present an explanation for this diagnosis involving magneto-ionic modes and their differential absorption in the magnetoplasma of Saturn's ionosphere.

International audience; During 2004 the Cassini/RPWS (Radio and Plasma Wave Science) instrument recorded about 5400 SEDs (Saturn Electrostatic Discharges), which were organized in 4 storm systems and 95 episodes. A computer algorithm with different intensity thresholds was applied to extract the SEDs from the RPWS data, and a statistical analysis on the main characteristics of these SEDs is performed. Compared to the SEDs recorded by the Voyagers in the early 1980s, some characteristics like SED rate, intensity, signal duration, or power spectrum are similar, but there are also remarkable differences with regard to time occurrence and frequency range: The first appearance of SEDs (storm 0) was recorded by RPWS from a distance of more than 300 Saturn radii at the end of May 2004, followed by storm A in mid-July, storm B at the beginning of August, and the most prominent storm C throughout most of September. There were also significant intervals of time with no detectable SED activity, e.g., SEDs were practically absent from October 2004 until June 2005. No clear indication for SEDs below a frequency of 1.3 MHz could be found. We suggest that the SED storms A, B, C, and possibly also storm 0 originate from the same storm system residing at a latitude of 35° South, which lasted for several months, waxed and waned in strength, and rotated with the Voyager radio period of Saturn. The SED source might be located in the updrafting water clouds beneath the visible cloud features detected in the Cassini images.

The Cassini radio and plasma wave investigation is designed to study radio emissions, plasma waves, thermal plasma, and dust in the vicinity of Saturn. Three nearly orthogonal electric field antennas are used to detect electric fields over a frequency range from 1 Hz to 16 MHz, and three orthogonal search coil magnetic antennas are used to detect magnetic fields over a frequency range from 1 Hz to 12 kHz. A Langmuir probe is used to measure the electron density and temperature. Signals from the electric and magnetic antennas are processed by five receiver systems: a high frequency receiver that covers the frequency range from 3.5 kHz to 16 MHz, a medium frequency receiver that covers the frequency range from 24 Hz to 12 kHz, a low frequency receiver that covers the frequency range from 1 Hz to 26 Hz, a five-channel waveform receiver that covers the frequency range from 1 Hz to 2.5 kHz in two bands, 1 Hz to 26 Hz and 3 Hz to 2.5 kHz, and a wideband receiver that has two frequency bands, 60 Hz to 10.5 kHz and 800 Hz to 75 kHz. In addition, a sounder transmitter can be used to stimulate plasma resonances over a frequency range from 3.6 kHz to 115.2 kHz. Fluxes of micron-sized dust particles can be counted and approximate masses of the dust particles can be determined using the same techniques as Voyager. Compared to Voyagers 1 and 2, which are the only spacecraft that have made radio and plasma wave measurements in the vicinity of Saturn, the Cassini radio and plasma wave instrument has several new capabilities. These include (1) greatly improved sensitivity and dynamic range, (2) the ability to perform direction-finding measurements of remotely generated radio emissions and wave normal measurements of plasma waves, (3) both active and passive measurements of plasma resonances in order to give precise measurements of the local electron density, and (4) Langmuir probe measurements of the local electron density and temperature. With these new capabilities, it will be possible to perform a broad range of studies of radio emissions, wave-particle interactions, thermal plasmas and dust in the vicinity of Saturn.

International audience; One major objective of the Cassini mission is the analysis of Saturnian radio emissions of magnetospheric (auroral) as well as atmospheric (lightning) origin. The Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) experiment is designed to measure the full polarization and the wave vector of the incoming radio waves, allowing us to retrieve information on source locations and emission modes. For that purpose, RPWS uses a two-channel receiver, connected to two electric monopoles (selected among three), which measures the voltages induced by the electric field of the incident waves and their various correlations. The accuracy of retrieved source locations depends directly on the precise knowledge of the orientation of the three effective monopole axes and lengths, which do not coincide with the physical ones owing to interaction with the spacecraft body. Antenna calibration aims at determining the so-called effective length vector of each antenna (combining orientation and length information). For that purpose, roll maneuvers of the Cassini spacecraft were performed before and after the Jupiter flyby, at distances such that Jovian radio sources can be identified with the planet's center but still provide a high signal-to-noise ratio. The resulting modulations of the measured signals allow us to derive the orientation and length of the effective antennas. The analysis is performed in two steps: first, the Stokes parameters (wave polarization) are determined using approximate antenna orientations derived from laboratory measurements on a scale model of the spacecraft. Second, measurements with high signal-to-noise ratio and pure circular polarization are selected and used for the determination of the effective length vectors of the RPWS antennas. Two methods have been developed for inverting the system of equations relating antenna parameters, wave parameters, and measurements (least squares fit and analytical inversion), both of which provide consistent results and present different advantages and limitations which are discussed. A final set of antenna parameters to be used for direction finding studies with the RPWS experiment is obtained.

Since the Voyager 2 encounter in early 1986, several investigators have attempted to localize the source regions of the smooth high-frequency radio emission which was observed by the planetary radio astronomy experiment at the nightside of Uranus. The various studies (most of them are based on the offset tilted dipole (OTD) model of the Uranian magnetic field) yielded significantly different source locations around the southern magnetic pole of Uranus. This may be a consequence of the individual a priori assumptions of the source model. However, the simplicity of the OTD model (Ness et al., 1986) also cannot adequately represent the complexity of the magnetic field at the radio source locations near the planet. The aim of this study is twofold. (1) We reanalyze the various source locations given in the literature (most of them are based on the OTD model) in the frame of the Q3 magnetic field model (Connerney et al., 1987). Our analysis moves some of the previously determined source locations from open toward closed field lines; however, the uncertainty due to the nonuniqueness of the Q3 model remains too large to exclude the possibility that open field lines are the source of smooth Uranian kilometric radiation. (2) We calculate the uncertainty of the radio source locations imposed by the nonuniqueness of the Q3 and OTD magnetic field models. We construct solutions by using generalized inversion techniques (Connerney, 1981) to obtain estimates of those magnetic field parameters (spherical harmonic coefficients up to degree and order 6) that are constrained by the magnetometer observations. The nonuniqueness of the resulting magnetic field models translates into an uncertainty about the radio source locations of some 20° in Uranocentric coordinates at altitudes of about 1.5 Uranian radii (RU). The present results are important for radio source locations at all the outer planets whose magnetic field geometries are represented by nonunique magnetic field models.