Context. Meteoroids impacting terrestrial planets at high speed may have different effects. On bodies without atmospheres, such as the Moon and Mercury, they form impact craters and contribute to the ...gardening process through which the surface material is constantly mixed. The interaction of high-speed meteoroids with the atmosphere of Venus, the Earth, and Mars, may lead to the deposition in the ionosphere of species such as neutral Mg or Fe and their ionized atoms, caused by ablation processes during the entry. Aims. In this work we estimate and compare the flux and impact speeds onto the planets of the inner solar system by numerically integrating the orbital evolution of putative dust particles of asteroidal and cometary origin. Methods. The trajectories of dust particles of different sizes are computed with a numerical code that accounts for the gravitational forces due to all planets, the Poynting-Robertson drag and the solar wind drag. The flux of dust grains on each planet is estimated by calibrating the outcome of our model with the flux on the Earth reported previously. Results. We obtain new estimates of the flux and impact velocities for both asteroidal and cometary dust particles on Venus and Mars. For Venus we find that cometary grains enter the planet atmosphere at higher speeds, possibly contributing to the upper layers, while asteroidal grains would be relevant for the lower layers, possibly leading to a compositional gradient. This effect is also present for Mars, but it is less marked. We also find that analytical predictions, not taking radiative forces into account, of both flux and average impact speed are reliable for Mars but fail for Venus because of the complex dynamical evolution of grains in the inner solar system. Conclusions. Our results on the velocity distributions and fluxes of micrometeoroids on the terrestrial planets can be used to put stringent contraints on models that estimate either the superficial material mixing that is due to meteoroid impacts or the formation of ionospheric layers for planets with an atmosphere.
Sea turtles that are entrapped in static and towed nets may develop gas embolism which can lead to severe organ injury and death. Trawling characteristics, physical and physiologic factors associated ...with gas-embolism and predictors of mortality were analysed from 482 bycaught loggerheads. We found 204 turtles affected by gas-embolism and significant positive correlations between the presence of gas-embolism and duration, depth, ascent rate of trawl, turtle size and temperature, and between mortality and ascent time, neurological deficits, significant acidosis and involvement of > 12 cardiovascular sites and the left atrium and sinus venosus-right atrium. About 90% turtles with GE alive upon arrival at Sea Turtle Clinic recovered from the disease without any supportive drug therapy. Results of this study may be useful in clinical evaluation, prognostication, and management for turtles affected by gas-embolism, but bycatch reduction must become a priority for major international organizations. According to the results of the present study the measures to be considered to reduce the catches or mortality of sea turtles for trawling are to be found in the modification of fishing nets or fishing operations and in greater awareness and education of fishermen.
Abstract The bearing capacity - the ability of a surface to support applied loads - is an important parameter for understanding and predicting the response of a surface. Previous work has inferred ...the bearing capacity and trafficability of specific regions of the Moon using orbital imagery and measurements of the boulder tracks visible on its surface. Here, we estimate the bearing capacity of the surface of an asteroid for the first time using DART/DRACO images of suspected boulder tracks on the surface of asteroid (65803) Didymos. Given the extremely low surface gravity environment, special attention is paid to the underlying assumptions of the geotechnical approach. The detailed analysis of the boulder tracks indicates that the boulders move from high to low gravitational potential, and provides constraints on whether the boulders may have ended their surface motion by entering a ballistic phase. From the 9 tracks identified with sufficient resolution to estimate their dimensions, we find an average boulder track width and length of 8.9 $$\pm$$ ± 1.5 m and 51.6 $$\pm$$ ± 13.3 m, respectively. From the track widths, the mean bearing capacity of Didymos is estimated to be 70 N/m 2 , implying that every 1 m 2 of Didymos’ surface at the track location can support only ~70 N of force before experiencing general shear failure. This value is at least 3 orders of magnitude less than the bearing capacity of dry sand on Earth, or lunar regolith.
“LICIACube – the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids” is managed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and will be part of the NASA DART mission, with the aim of i) documenting the DART ...impact’s effects on the secondary member of the (65803) Didymos binary asteroid system, ii) characterizing the shape of the target, and iii) performing dedicated scientific investigations on it. DART probe will be launched at the end of 2021 and LICIACube will be hosted as piggyback during the interplanetary cruise, then released 10 days before the impact, and autonomously guided along its fly-by trajectory. The LICIACube payload is composed by LEIA, a narrow FoV camera, and LUKE, a wide FoV imager with an RGB Bayer pattern filter, that will collect and transmit to Earth several unique images of the effects of the DART impact on the asteroid, such as the formation and the development of the plume potentially determined by the impact.
LICIACube will be the first deep space mission developed and autonomously managed by an Italian team: the design, integration and test of the CubeSat have been assigned by ASI to the aerospace company Argotec, while the LICIACube Ground Segment has a complex architecture based on the Argotec Mission Control Center, antennas of the NASA Deep Space Network and data archiving and processing, managed at the ASI Space Science Data Center. The LICIACube team includes a wide Italian scientific community, involved in the definition of all the aspects of the mission: trajectory design; mission definition (and real-time orbit determination during operations); impact, plume and imaging simulation and modelling, in preparation of a suitable framework for the analysis and interpretation of in-situ data. The major technological mission challenge, i.e. the autonomous targeting and imaging of such a small body during a fast fly-by, to be accomplished with the limited resources of a CubeSat, is affordable thanks to a strong synergy of all the mentioned teams in support of the engineering tasks.
-LICIACube is the first purely Italian spacecraft operating in deep space.-LICIACube is managed by the Italian Space Agency and will be part of the NASA DART mission.-It will analyze the output of the first kinetic impact test at a realistic scale.-The payload is composed by LEIA, a narrow FoV camera, and LUKE, a wide FoV imager with an RGB Bayer pattern filter.-Aims: documenting the DART impact on Dimorphos; characterizing the target shape; performing scientific investigations.
Abstract
The study of dust, the most abundant material in cometary nuclei, is pivotal in understanding the original materials forming the Solar system. Measuring the coma phase function provides a ...tool to investigate the nature of cometary dust. Rosetta/OSIRIS sampled the coma phase function of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, covering a large phase angle range in a small amount of time. Twelve series were acquired in the period from 2015 March to 2016 February for this scientific purpose. These data allowed, after stray light removal, measuring the phase function shape, its reddening, and phase reddening while varying heliocentric and nucleocentric distances. Despite small dissimilarities within different series, we found a constant overall shape. The reflectance has a u-shape with minimum at intermediate phase angles, reaching similar values at the smallest and largest phase angle sampled. The comparison with cometary phase functions in literature indicates OSIRIS curves being consistent with the ones found in many other single comets. The dust has a negligible phase reddening at α < 90°, indicating a coma dominated by single scattering. We measured a reddening of 11–14 %/100 nm between 376 and 744 nm. No trend with heliocentric or nucleocentric distance was found, indicating the coma doesn’t change its spectrum with time. These results are consistent with single coma grains and close-nucleus coma photometric results. Comparison with nucleus photometry indicates a different backscattering phase function shape and similar reddening values only at α < 30°. At larger phase angles, the nucleus becomes significantly redder than the coma.
Determining volatile content in silicate glasses has critical importance to evaluate the original water content of magmas and its evolution from storage to eruption. Here we present a Raman ...spectroscopic study devoted to defining an optimized analytical procedure for the determination of dissolved water content of nano-crystallized ancient silicic glasses, belonging to the Paraná Magmatic Province (PMP) volcanism in South Brazil (131 to 134 Ma). A set of anhydrous glasses was prepared under atmospheric pressure by melting and quenching of natural rocks. These glasses were later hydrated under high pressure in an Internally Heated Pressure Vessel (IHPV). Even after rapid quenching, most of the dry and hydrous glasses showed prominent Raman peaks at ca. 670–690 cm−1, which are associated with the presence of Ti-magnetite nanolites. Although large Raman peaks are observed, the nanolites are invisible to standard Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) due to their small size and not quantifiable by X-ray diffraction (XRD) because of their low abundance. Available models and procedures to estimate water content in glasses are calibrated with crystal-free glasses and were proved inadequate for water measurement in nanolite-bearing glasses. Here we provide new calibration strategies to determine the water content in nanolite-bearing glasses. These strategies are based on the normalization of the intensity and area of the water band (3550 cm−1) to the individual vibrational bands of the silicate framework of the glass, at 350–500 cm−1 and 860–1240 cm−1. Our new calibrations were used to estimate the dissolved water content of glass matrixes of natural dacitic vitrophyres from the Caxias do Sul volcanic suite, whose Raman spectra show nanolite peaks of variable intensity. Our work constitutes a further step ahead toward the definition of strategies to determine the volatile content in natural multicomponent and multiphase glasses.
Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are narrow, dark features that typically source from rocky outcrops, incrementally lengthen down Martian steep slopes in warm seasons, fade in cold seasons and recur ...annually. In this study we report the first observations of RSL at Hale crater, Mars, during late southern summer by the Color and Surface Science Imaging System (CaSSIS) on board ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). For the first time, we analyze images of RSL acquired during morning solar local times and compare them with High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) observations taken in the afternoon. We find that RSL activity is correlated with the presence of steep slopes. Our thermal analysis establishes that local temperatures are high enough to allow either the melting of brines or deliquescence of salts during the observation period, but the slope and aspect distributions of RSL activity predicted by these processes are not consistent with our observations. We do not find any significant relative albedo difference between morning and afternoon RSL. Differences above 11% would have been detected by our methodology, if present. This instead suggests that RSL at Hale crater are not caused by seeping water that reaches the surface, but are best explained as dry flows of granular material.
•We report the first CaSSIS observations of RSL at Hale crater, Mars.•We compare morning CaSSIS images with afternoon HiRISE observations.•We do not find any relative albedo variations between morning and afternoon RSL.•RSL lengthening is constrained to steep slopes.•Our results indicate that RSL are consistent with dry flows.
The Mediterranean Sea is among the three biodiversity hotspots of the world where elasmobranchs are severely threatened. Elasmobranchs act as apex or meso-predators within marine food webs and the ...loss/decline of apex predators determines the mesopredator release, leading in turn to increased predation on smaller prey. However, also several mesopredators (including rays, skates and small sharks) are intensively fished, being of commercial interest, or by-caught, and thus mesopredators increase could not be so evident. We analysed the trophic ecology of an endemic Mediterranean ray, the starry ray Raja asterias, at a seasonal scale from the Adriatic basin, one of the most intensively exploited area of the Mediterranean, by means of stomach contents and stable isotopes analyses. Our results evidenced that starry rays rely on benthic sources including species of local commercial values, such as swimming crabs, small cephalopods, and stomatopods and share the same trophic position with other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) and other mesopredators (e.g., common soles, Norway lobsters and mullets). As all mesopredators are overexploited, as well as their benthic prey are affected by intense trawl-fishing, the whole food webs are disrupted and neither the classical trophic cascade nor the mesopredator release hypothesis could be verified. Conservation measures for these species, such as the release after capture or the application of exclusion grids to the net, should be applied in areas where populations are strongly impacted by trawling.
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•Mesopredators (including rays) are intensively fished or by-caught in the Mediterranean basin.•The starry ray is a benthic feeder with preference for crabs, cephalopods, and stomatopods.•Starry rays share the same trophic position with other mesopredators, all overexploited as well.•Fishing is depleting food webs from all trophic levels, leading the ecosystem towards collapse.•Conservation measures (release after capture, excluders on nets) are needed to preserve batoids in the Mediterranean Sea.
In situ images of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko nucleus acquired by the CIVA cameras on-board PHILAE revealed a rough landscape dominated by consolidated materials. These data provide a unique view ...to constrain the past and present conditions prevailing at the surface of the comet. A quantitative analysis of microscopic structures (fractures and pebbles) is derived using a manual extraction from the images. Fractures/cracks are rather ubiquitous at various spatial scales with network and size (from sub-cm to 10 cm) well correlated to the texture of the landscape. The pebble size distributions are derived and compared to the size distribution of other cometary materials. The nature of the landscape is then discussed in relation to endogenic and exogenic processes of surface modification. The block seen in CIVA no. 1 is interpreted to be close-ups of fractured boulder/cliff belonging to the boulder field identified from the orbit near Abydos, this boulder field being itself the result of gravitational regressive erosion due to sublimation. The observed fractures are best explained by thermal insolation leading to thermal fatigue and/or to loss of volatile materials. This surficial fragmentation (up to >10 cm length) could generate macroscopic erosion that is also visible at larger scale from the orbit. There is at least an intriguing possibility that the pebbles are remnants of primordial accretion processes. We thus speculate that the Abydos landscape could be in favour of pebble accretion model instead of runaway coagulation model with a formation location in the outer region of the Solar system.
ABSTRACT
We monitor the seasonal erosion and accretion of dust deposits in the Imhotep, Hatmehit, and Ma’at regions of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko with OSIRIS Narrow Angle Camera images. The ...vertical accuracy of such measurements is 0.2 m and the spatial scale of the images we used is lower than 0.60 m pixel−1. We calculate the height of 21 boulders by applying a tool that allows to measure the shadow length of a boulder projected on the surrounding dust deposit, assuming that any height variation is not due to boulder intrinsic change. Any boulder height variation provides a direct measurement about the thickness variation of the surrounding dust layer due to the occurring erosion and/or accretion. The analysis concerns the period from 2014 August, inbound to perihelion, to 2016 September, outbound. We measured the erosion in the Ma’at region of 0.6 ± 0.2 m from 2014 September 12 to December 2, and an erosion of 0.4 ± 0.3 m from 2014 December 3 to 2015 February 15. Then, we measured a dust deposition of 0.7 ± 0.3 m during the following perihelion phase, until 2016 May–September. This result confirms the link between the erosion of the Southern hemisphere and the fallout in the northern regions. The Imhotep and Hatmehit regions are characterized by a negligible erosion during the inbound orbit, consistent with pebble-made nucleus models predicting no erosion when the temperature of the nucleus surface is Ts < 205 K.
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