Sazuna/UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
Lunar Surface and Buried Rock Abundance Retrieved from Chang'E-2 Microwave and Diviner Data. Microwave emission of the Moon, measured by the Chang'E-2 Microwave Radiometer (MRM), provides an effective way to understand the physical properties of lunar near-surface materials. The observed microwave brightness temperature is affected by near-surface temperatures, which are controlled by the surface albedo, roughness, regolith thermophysical properties, and the high thermal inertia and permittivity of both surface and buried rocks. In this study, we propose a rock model using thermal infrared measurements from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's (LRO) Diviner as surface temperature constraints. We then retrieve the volumetric rock abundance (RA) from nighttime MRM data at several rocky areas. Although our retrieved MRM RA cannot be compared to the rock concentration measured with LRO Camera images directly, there is a good agreement with Diviner-derived RA and radar observations. The extent of several geological units, including rocky craters, hummocky regions, and impact melts, agree well with the distribution of elevated rock concentration. Based on seven large craters with published model ages, we present an inverse correlation between rock concentration and crater age. The result shows that the rock concentration decreases with crater age rapidly within 1 Ga but declines slowly after that. These data are consistent with a short survival time for exposed rocks and a long lifetime for buried rocks that are shielded from lunar surface processes.

Keywords: Lunar craters, The Moon, Lunar science, Lunar geochronology, Lunar surface, Lunar evolution
New Illumination and Temperature Constraints of Mercury's Volatile Polar Deposits. Images from the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) aboard the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission reveal low-reflectance polar deposits that are interpreted to be lag deposits of organic-rich, volatile material. Interpretation of these highest-resolution images of Mercury's polar deposits has been limited by the available topography models, so local high-resolution (125 m pixel-1) digital elevation models (DEMs) were made using a combination of data from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) and from shape-from-shading techniques using MDIS images. Local DEMs were made for eight of Mercury's north polar craters; these DEMs were then used to create high-resolution simulated image, illumination, and thermal models. The simulated images reveal that the pixel brightness variations imaged within Mercury's low-reflectance deposits are consistent with scattered light reflecting off of topography and do not need to be explained by volatile compositional differences as previously suggested. The illumination and thermal models show that these low-reflectance polar deposits extend beyond the permanently shadowed region, more than 1.0 km in some locations, and correspond to a maximum surface temperature of greater than 250 K but less than 350 K. The low-reflectance boundaries of all eight polar deposits studied here show a close correspondence with the surface stability boundary of coronene (C24H12). While coronene should only be viewed as a proxy for the myriad volatile compounds that may exist in Mercury's polar deposits, coronene's surface stability boundary supports the idea that Mercury's low-reflectance polar deposits are composed of macromolecular organic compounds, consistent with the hypotheses of exogenous transport and in situ production.

Keywords: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Planetary polar regions, Mercury (planet)
Abundant Atmospheric Methane from Volcanism on Terrestrial Planets Is Unlikely and Strengthens the Case for Methane as a Biosignature. The disequilibrium combination of abundant methane and carbon dioxide has been proposed as a promising exoplanet biosignature that is readily detectable with upcoming telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope. However, few studies have explored the possibility of nonbiological CH4 and CO2 and related contextual clues. Here we investigate whether magmatic volcanic outgassing on terrestrial planets can produce atmospheric CH4 and CO2 with a thermodynamic model. Our model suggests that volcanoes are unlikely to produce CH4 fluxes comparable to biological fluxes. Improbable cases where volcanoes produce biological amounts of CH4 also produce ample carbon monoxide. We show, using a photochemical model, that high abiotic CH4 abundances produced by volcanoes would be accompanied by high CO abundances, which could be a detectable false-positive diagnostic. Overall, when considering known mechanisms for generating abiotic CH4 on terrestrial planets, we conclude that observations of atmospheric CH4 with CO2 are difficult to explain without the presence of biology when the CH4 abundance implies a surface flux comparable to modern Earth's biological CH4 flux. A small or negligible CO abundance strengthens the CH4+CO2 biosignature because life readily consumes atmospheric CO, while reducing volcanic gases likely cause CO to build up in a planet's atmosphere. Furthermore, the difficulty of volcanically generated CH4-rich atmospheres suitable for an origin of life may favor alternatives such as impact-induced reducing atmospheres.

Keywords: Biosignatures, Astrobiology, Planetary atmospheres, Volcanoes
A Comparative Modeling Study of the Seasonal, Temporal, and Spatial Distribution of Meteoroids in the Upper Atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars. The meteoroid input function (MIF) describes the seasonal, diurnal and planetographic distribution of incoming meteoroids onto an atmosphere and/or surface of a solar system body. Utilizing state-of-the-art dynamical models of the main populations of meteoroids, we present a comparative study of the MIF on the atmospheres of Venus, Earth and Mars. Our modeling results show that, although a planet's axial tilt and orbital eccentricity introduce measurable important variability of the overall MIF, excursions from the ecliptic plane due to orbital inclination are responsible for the largest differences, producing variations of up to 40% with respect to the mean value in the overall mass fluxes of Venus and Mars. This is particularly true for meteoroid populations concentrated around the ecliptic plane, which are believed to be the dominant source of organics and metals on the atmospheres of these planets.

Keywords: Planetary atmospheres, Meteor radiants, Meteoroids
ALMA Observations of Io Going into and Coming out of Eclipse. We present 1 mm observations constructed from Atacama Large (sub)Millimeter Array (ALMA) data of SO2, SO, and KCl when Io went from sunlight into eclipse (2018 March 20) and vice versa (2018 September 2 and 11). There is clear evidence of volcanic plumes on March 20 and September 2. The plumes distort the line profiles, causing high-velocity (≳500 m s-1) wings and red-/blueshifted shoulders in the line profiles. During eclipse ingress, the SO2 flux density dropped exponentially, and the atmosphere re-formed in a linear fashion when reemerging in sunlight, with a "post-eclipse brightening" after ∼10 minutes. While both the in-eclipse decrease and in-sunlight increase in SO was more gradual than for SO2, the fact that SO decreased at all is evidence that self-reactions at the surface are important and fast, and that in-sunlight photolysis of SO2 is the dominant source of SO. Disk-integrated SO2 in-sunlight flux densities are ∼2-3 times higher than in eclipse, indicative of a roughly 30%-50% contribution from volcanic sources to the atmosphere. Typical column densities and temperatures are N ≈ (1.5 ± 0.3) × 1016 cm-2 and T ≈ 220-320 K both in sunlight and in eclipse, while the fractional coverage of the gas is two to three times lower in eclipse than in sunlight. The low-level SO2 emissions present during eclipse may be sourced by stealth volcanism or be evidence of a layer of noncondensible gases preventing complete collapse of the SO2 atmosphere. The melt in magma chambers at different volcanoes must differ in composition to explain the absence of SO and SO2, but simultaneous presence of KCl over Ulgen Patera.

Keywords: Planetary atmospheres, Galilean satellites, Radio astronomy
Space Weathering Affects the Remote Near-IR Identification of Phyllosilicates. Near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers on board current sample return missions Hayabusa2 and the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) from primitive bodies detected the presence of hydrated silicates on the surface of asteroids Ryugu and Bennu, respectively. These detections relied upon the study of the 2.7 μm OH-stretching spectral feature, whose peak position is related to the composition and structure of minerals. However, space weathering might alter the band profile, depth and position, thus complicating the interpretation of remote sensing data. In order to better understand these processes and provide support to space missions, we performed ion bombardment experiments on serpentine and saponite analogs. These two phyllosilicates are among the dominant mineral phases found in hydrated carbonaceous chondrites, which are possible analogs to surface materials observed on these primitive asteroids. We studied the behavior of the 2.7 μm band as a function of ion fluence and found that the evolution of the phyllosilicate depends on its nature. For the saponite sample, the band is only slightly affected by ion bombardment, while for both serpentine samples it shifts toward longer wavelengths. For both samples, peak intensity and width is not strongly affected. The band shift for serpentine indicates that space weathering introduces a bias in the interpretation of NIR remote sensing observations of phyllosilicates. The shift observed in our experiments can be detected by instruments on board Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx, depending on the geometry of observation. Our findings provide support to the interpretation of such data.

Keywords: Small Solar System bodies, Surface processes, Space weather, Laboratory astrophysics, Surface composition, Infrared astronomy, Spectroscopy, Near infrared astronomy
Vis-NIR Reflectance Microspectroscopy of IDPs. Visible near-infrared (Vis-NIR) reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful nondestructive technique allowing the parent bodies identification of cosmomaterials such as meteorites, micrometeorites, and interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) studied in the laboratory. Previous studies showed that meteorites do not represent the full diversity of the solar system small bodies. We present here an experimental setup we developed for measuring Vis-NIR microspectroscopy of individual IDPs. We acquired diffuse Vis-NIR reflectance spectra of 15 particles ranging 7-31 μm in size. We discuss the requirements, the abilities, as well as the limitations of the technique. For sizes smaller than 17 μm, the slopes increase with decreasing particles sizes, while for sizes larger than 17 μm, the slopes are randomly distributed. The visible reflectance levels do not appear to be affected by the size of the IDPs, and show a bimodal distribution. Among the studied particles, we identified an IDP (L2079C18) exhibiting a feature at 0.66 μm, which is similar to the one observed by remote sensing on the surface of hydrated asteroids. This is the first detection of a hydration band in the reflectance spectrum of an IDP that could indicate a possible link between hydrated IDPs with hydrated asteroid surfaces.

Keywords: Asteroids, Experimental techniques, Spectroscopy, Comets, Meteorites, Interplanetary dust
The Effects of Waves on the Meridional Thermal Structure of Jupiter's Stratosphere. A thermal oscillation in Jupiter's equatorial stratosphere, thought to have ∼4 Earth year period, was first discovered in 7.8 μm imaging observations from the 1980s and 1990s. Such imaging observations were sensitive to the 10-20 hPa pressure region in the atmosphere. More recent 7.8 μm long-slit high-spectroscopic observations from 2012 to 2017 taken using the Texas Echelon cross-dispersed Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES), mounted on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), have vertically resolved this phenomenon's structure, and show that it spans a range of pressure from 2 to 20 hPa. The TEXES instrument was mounted on the Gemini North telescope in March 2017, improving the diffraction-limited spatial resolution by a factor of ∼2.5 compared with that offered by the IRTF. This Gemini spatial scale sensitivity study was performed in support of the longer-termed Jupiter monitoring being performed at the IRTF. We find that the spatial resolution afforded by the smaller 3 m IRTF is sufficient to spatially resolve the 3D structure of Jupiter's equatorial stratospheric oscillation by comparing the thermal retrievals of IRTF and Gemini observations. We then performed numerical simulations in a general circulation model to investigate how the structure of Jupiter's stratosphere responds to changes in the latitudinal extent of wave forcing in the troposphere. We find our simulations produce a lower limit in meridional wave forcing of ±7° (planetocentric coordinates) centered about the equator. This likely remains constant over time to produce off-equatorial thermal oscillations at ±13°, consistent with observations spanning nearly four decades.

Keywords: Stratosphere, Jupiter, Infrared observatories
Global Temporal and Geographic Stability of Brines on Present-day Mars. We combine experimentally verified constraints on brine thermodynamics along with a global circulation model to develop a new extensive framework of brine stability on the surface and subsurface of Mars. Our work considers all major phase changes (i.e., evaporation, freezing, and boiling) and is consistent, regardless of brine composition, so it is applicable to any brine relevant to Mars. We find that equatorial regions typically have temperatures too high for stable brines, while high latitudes are susceptible to permanent freezing. In the subsurface, this trend is reversed, and equatorial regions are more favorable to brine stability, but only for the lowest water activities (and lowest eutectic temperatures). At locations where brines may be stable, we find that their lifetimes can be characterized by two regimes. Above a water activity of ∼0.6, brine duration is dominated by evaporation, lasting at most a few minutes per sol. Below a water activity of 0.6, brine duration is bound by freezing or boiling; such brines are potentially stable for up to several consecutive hours per sol. Our work suggests that brines should not be expected near or on the Martian surface, except for low eutectic water activity salts such as calcium or magnesium perchlorate or chlorate, and their (meta)stability on the surface would require contact with atmospheric water vapor or local ice deposits.

Keywords: Mars, Astrobiology
How Good is "Good Enough?" Major Element Chemical Analyses of Planetary Basalts by Spacecraft Instruments. Bulk chemical composition is a fundamental property of a planetary material, rock or regolith, and can be used to constrain the properties and history of a material, and by extension its parent body, including its potential for habitability. Here, we investigate how uncertainties in bulk major element analyses can affect inferences derived from those analyses, including rock classification by total-alkalis-silica (TAS); Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA); a tectonic discriminant for magma genesis; and the inferred mantle pressure and temperature of a basaltic magma's origin. Uncertainties for actual spacecraft instruments (Mars Exploration Rover and Mars Science Laboratory (MER/MSL), Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectroscopy (APXS), and Mars Science Laboratory: Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (MSL LIBS)) and a suggested uncertainty level for analyses on Venus (Venus Exploration Targets (VExT) Workshop) are higher than those of standard Earth-based analyses (e.g., by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICPOES)). We propagate the uncertainties from each analysis type to the derived parameters, both implicitly and via boot-strap (Monte Carlo) methods. Our calculations show that the uncertainties of APXS and VExT are greater than those for ICPOES, but they still allow useful inferences about rock type and history. Our results show that the uncertainties of MSL LIBS analyses are significantly larger than the other techniques, and can provide only limited constraints on rock types or histories. Any instruments chosen for future mission must have uncertainties of the chemical analyses small enough to meet the mission's overall scientific objectives.

Keywords: Space vehicle instruments, Surface composition, Uncertainty bounds, Cosmochemistry
Lunar Exploration as a Probe of Ancient Venus. An ancient Venusian rock could constrain that planet's history and reveal the past existence of oceans. Such samples may persist on the Moon, which lacks an atmosphere and significant geological activity. We demonstrate that, if Venus' atmosphere was at any point thin and similar to Earth's, then asteroid impacts transferred potentially detectable amounts of Venusian surface material to the lunar regolith. Venus experiences an enhanced flux, relative to Earth, of asteroid collisions that eject lightly shocked (≲40 GPa) surface material. Initial launch conditions plus close encounters and resonances with Venus evolve ejecta trajectories into Earth-crossing orbits. Using analytic models for crater ejecta and N-body simulations, we find that more than 0.07% of the ejecta lands on the Moon. The lunar regolith will contain up to 0.2 ppm Venusian material if Venus lost its water in the last 3.5 Gyr. If water was lost more than 4 Gyr ago, 0.3 ppm of the deep megaregolith is of Venusian origin. About half of collisions between ejecta and the Moon occur at ≲6 km s-1, which hydrodynamical simulations have indicated is sufficient to avoid significant shock alteration. Therefore, recovery and isotopic analyses of Venusian surface samples would determine with high confidence both whether and when Venus harbored liquid oceans and/or a lower-mass atmosphere. Tests on brecciated clasts in existing lunar samples from Apollo missions may provide an immediate resolution. Alternatively, regolith characterization by upcoming lunar missions may provide answers to these fundamental questions surrounding Venus' evolution.

Keywords: Meteorites, Venus, Impact phenomena
Evidence for Transient Atmospheres during Eruptive Outgassing on the Moon. Events following the giant impact formation of the Moon are thought to have led to volatile depletion and concurrent mass-dependent fractionation of the isotopes of moderately volatile elements (MVE). The detailed processes and conditions surrounding this episode remain obscured and are not unified by a single model for all volatile elements and compounds. Using available data, including new Zn isotope data for eight lunar samples, we demonstrate that the isotopic fractionation of MVE in the Moon is best expressed by nonideal Rayleigh distillation, approaching the fractionation factor α using the reduced masses of the evaporated isotopologs. With these calculations, a best fit for the data is obtained when the lunar MVE isotope data are normalized to ordinary or enstatite chondrites ( ${{\rm{\Delta }}}_{\mathrm{Moon}-\mathrm{OC},\mathrm{EC}}$ ), rather than a bulk silicate Earth composition. This analysis further indicates that the parent body from which the Moon formed cannot have partitioned S into its core based on S isotope compositions of lunar rocks. The best fit between ${{\rm{\Delta }}}_{\mathrm{Moon}-\mathrm{OC},\mathrm{EC}}$ and modeled nonideal Rayleigh fractionation is defined by a slope that corresponds to a saturation index of 90% ± 4%. In contrast, the older Highland suite is defined by a saturation index of 75% ± 2%, suggesting that the vapor phase pressure was higher during mare basalt eruptions. This provides the first tangible evidence that the Moon was veiled by a thin atmosphere during mare basalt eruption events spanning at least from 3.8 to 3 billion years ago and implies that MVE isotope fractionation dominantly occurred after the Moon had accreted.

Keywords: The Moon, Lunar evolution, Earth-moon system, Lunar atmosphere
The Family of (6) Hebe. The fundamental science question we address in this research concerns the evolution of asteroid families; more specifically, does asteroid (6) Hebe have a genetic family, and does this genetic family provide insight into the structure of (6) Hebe? Hebe has been identified dynamically and spectroscopically as the H-chondrite parent body. The H chondrites exhibit a range of metamorphisms suggesting deep excavation from the parent body, an event expected to form a family. Previously, several small H-type asteroids were identified near Hebe, supporting this possibility, but they were insufficient to test its existence. We initiated a limited spectroscopic investigation of 36 asteroids near Hebe between 2009 and 2018 using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility's SpeX instrument to test for the presence of a small dynamical family of H-chondrite composition. Of our 36 asteroid spectra, 16 were featureless, 1 contained a single absorption feature, 16 exhibited two absorption features, and 3 were deemed unusable due to poor quality. Our interpretation of asteroid spectra with two absorption features began with the extraction and interpretation of band centers and the band area ratio, which we used to determine the surface mineralogy. In this paper, we report on the nine asteroids that were determined to have an H-chondrite mineralogy. We conclude that asteroids with H-chondrite mineralogies reside on both sides of the 3:1 Kirkwood gap, and this implies that (6) Hebe does have an old-dispersed family, as well as provide spectral evidence for Bottke's hypothesis of resonance jumping.

Keywords: Main belt asteroids, Near infrared astronomy
On the Long-term Weathering of Airless Body Surfaces by the Heavy Minor Ions of the Solar Wind: Inputs from Ion Observations and SRIM Simulations. The importance of solar wind minor ions heavier than alpha particles in weathering airless body surfaces is an open debate. The fundamental question at stake is whether the variety of different minor ion species, their high masses, and their high charge states may overcome their low densities in the solar wind to enable them to significantly contribute to ion weathering processes. Here, long-term effects that develop on geological timescales are investigated. To do so, the long-term averaged energy spectrum of thermal and suprathermal solar wind ions is estimated by compiling and contrasting ion measurements gathered by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), Wind, Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), ARTEMIS, and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) missions. The long-term ion environment is then convolved with Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter simulations. Combining these data and models, we find that solar wind minor ions significantly alter airless body surfaces, as they contribute to 8%-14% of the total sputtering and create 20%-50% of atomic displacements at depths greater than 100 nm. The new approach presented in this article therefore confirms that solar wind minor ions play an important role in the ion weathering of airless surfaces throughout the solar system.

Keywords: Lunar composition, Planetary surfaces, Surface processes, The Moon, Solar wind, Lunar surface, Dwarf planets