The workshop is free of charge but places are limited!
Registration
Registration opens on 01/08/2023 and closes on 27/09/2023. It is compulsory and must be accompanied by a letter of interest and a brief curriculum vitae (max 1 page). You will receive via email confirmation of your acceptance. Participation in the workshop includes all coffee and lunch breaks.
Number of participants
35 people will be admitted in-person and up to 100 online.
Language
English or Spanish
Deliverables
Attendees (both in-person and online) will be issued, on request, with a certificate of attendance. The materials of topics presented at the 1st Latin America Planetary Science Workshop – Connecting Earth with other Planets will be available.
ESA’s JUICE Mission – Making History on its Way to Jupiter
Athena Coustenis (CNRS/Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France), member of the JUICE Science Working Team and Co-I of the JANUS camera, describes the emotional journey to the launchpad and beyond for Europe’s new mission to explore the icy moons of Jupiter.
Planetary Perspectives – A Planetary Scientist Turned Asteroid Miner
This edition’s ‘Planetary Perspectives’ interview with Dr Lauri Siltala has been contributed by J D Prasanna Deshapriya, Hans Huybrighs, Peter McArdle, and Ottaviano Rüsch of the Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Future Research Working Group. It is the latest in a series of conversations by EPEC, ‘Industry or Academia?’, which aim to gather insights from people who have had success in both sectors.
Policy Engagement on the Menu
Members of the Europlanet Policy and Industry Team and Executive Board reflect on recent activities by Europlanet to engage with policy makers.
A Guide to Live-Streaming Astronomy Events
Claudia Mignone (INAF), Anne Buckle and Graham Jones (timeanddate.com) and Helen Usher (Open University) share tips for a new era of astronomy live-streaming.
Developing Labs for Research that is Out of this World
Gareth Davies (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands) describes how investment from the European Commission has supported Europlanet’s development of state-of-the-art facilities for planetary science – and other fields of research, such as cultural heritage.
Life Beyond Us: Showcasing Astrobiology through Science Fiction Stories
Julie Nováková (European Astrobiology Institute, Czech Republic), co-editor of the ‘Life Beyond Us’ anthology, describes this new collection of 27 science fiction stories by award-winning authors and 27 essays by scientists.
AbGradEPEC 2023
After a three-year wait to hold the AbGradEPEC meeting for early career astrobiologists, former AbGradE President, Ruth-Sophie Taubner, and current President, Silvana Pinna, share highlights of the event.
Fourth Fireball Forum
Günter Kargl and Manuel Scherf (Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences) describe the outcomes of a series of workshops on fireball detection organised through the Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) project.
Thibaut Roger (Europlanet Communications Team/Universität Bern) explores the use of games and play-related formats for research and science communication.
The Europlanet Summer School 2023 is being hosted by Vilnius University’s Moletai Astronomical Observatory (MAO) in Lithuania from 8-18 August.
For the first time, the School is taking place in hybrid format, with 20 participants from 10 countries attending on site and up to 30 people following online. The participants include early careers (right the way from high-school to BSc, MSc, PhD and postdoc) and amateur astronomers.
During the School, participants will gain hands-on experience observing with MAO’s 1.65m and 35/51cm-telescopes (weather permitting!) and training in analysing exoplanet transits, stellar spectra, atmospheric parameters and variability data. The programme includes training modules in communication skills and engaging with schools, as well as lectures on space and ground-based observations and machine learning.
Deividas Dudulis (high-school student and astrophotographer), who is participating in the Summer School, will be posting photos here.
Tour of Molėtai Astronomical Observatory 1.65 m telescope. Credit: Deividas DudulisMolėtai Astronomical Observatory 1.65 m telescope. Credit: Deividas DudulisInside dome of Molėtai Astronomical Observatory 1.65 m telescope. Credit: Deividas Dudulis31/51 cm Maksutov-system Molėtai Astronomical Observatory telescope. Credit: Deividas Dudulis
Solmaz Adeli and Nils Müller are travelling to Iceland this summer to carry out two research projects in support of upcoming missions to Venus. Their visit, from 31 July – 14 August, is partly funded through Europlanet’s Transnational Access programme and the trip is part of a larger, international campaign organised by NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the German Aerospace Centre, DLR.
Volcanic field sites in Iceland can be used as planetary analogues for Venus, since their resemblance to terrains and environments on Venus enable a better understanding of the processes that shape the venusian surface, and also provide an opportunity to test out instrumentation.
Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting in 2021. Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Mokslo Sriuba
3-D perspective view of Sapas Mons on Venus, with lava flows in the foreground. Credit: NASA/JPL
Solmaz, of the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, is leading a project that uses field sites on Iceland to help characterise the composition and origin of the major geologic terrains on the venusian surface, one of the main objectives of the NASA VERITAS and ESA EnVision missions. Her team will use a prototype of the VEM instrument, which will fly on-board VERITAS, to characterise lava flows in the Reykjanes peninsula, which range from very fresh terrains to areas that have been altered over time. “Very fresh” in this case even means that, by coincidence, the team will be able to measure hot lava that is currently erupting from the active Fagradalsfjall volcano since 10 July this year. The red-glowing lava rocks of the Litli-Hrútur eruption cone have about the same temperature as the surface of Venus, which is a 470 degree Celsius hothouse day and night. The team will also collect samples and take them back to the PSL laboratories at DLR-Berlin for analysis in the Venus emissivity chamber.
This project will increase our understanding of the spectral emissivity data that will be obtained by the VERITAS and EnVision missions, and be an opportunity to calibrate field data taken by the prototype VEM instrument
Nils, a postoc at the Freie Universität Berlin, is leading a project to better understand volcanic activity on Venus by investigating the infrared signal of active eruptions and searching for new lava flows. The Dyngjusandur sand sheet (a cold sand desert) and the fissure-fed lava flows, Holuhraun and Thorvaldshraun, are excellent analogues on Iceland to prepare for these studies because these recent lava flows at the sites are sufficiently large and intense to be detectable on Venus.
An issue that complicates the quantitative study of volcanic activity on Venus is the unexpectedly low reflected radar signal from Venusian lava flows, which suggests that detection of active flows may be difficult because they might quickly form uninterrupted crusts, obscuring the hot lava. It is, however, possible that wind-bourne sediments are partly responsible for these low radar reflections. The Iceland volcanic sites are very well-suited to study how sediments modify the radar signal of lava flows, so the study may give new insights into radar data collected at Venus.
The team aims to acquire airborne radar data, similar to the VERITAS radar data, and carry out field work simultaneously with the flight campaign. This ‘ground-truth’ data will include information on sediment coverage and humidity, which will help to interpret and add value to the radar data.
Uli Koehler, from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, will be travelling with the expedition team and reporting on the campaign. For updates on their progress, see the DLR blog and follow the social media channels of DLR:
21-EPN-FT1-012: Zebra dolomites revised: clumped isotope analysis as a tool to assess recrystallisation and dolomite cementation in overpressured settings
Report Summary: Zebra dolomites are marked by an alternation of millimeter thick dark colored, as recrystallised interpreted bands and white cement bands. Disruption of the banding is manifested by displacements that gradually increases and subsequently deceases before disappearing. This disruption also occurs at intracrystalline scale with crystal rehealing features as observable under cathodoluminescence. This disruption of the zebra dolomites is explained by dolomitization in relation to overpressured fluid flow.
In the framework of the Europlanet project zebra dolomite samples from 3 deep Belgian boreholes (Soumagne, Soiron and Bolland) were selected for clumped isotope analysis. The aim was to sample and analyse the dark fine crystalline and white coarse dolomite cements separately to infer the original (re)crystallization temperature. The following research questions were raised: i) is there a systematic difference in deduced temperature between the dark and white dolomite bands. If so then this could help to better constrain the recrystallisation and cementation. This would allow to assess the potential resetting of the original clumped isotope signature of the dark bands due to recrystallisation; ii) if the cement phases display uniform temperatures then this temperature can be compared with the minimum crystallization temperature deduced from primary fluid inclusion microthermometry [1]. The discrepancy between both temperatures, which links to the pressure correction, normally allows to quantify the overpressure of the system; iii) based on deduced crystallization temperature and δ18OPDB, the δ18OSMOW of the fluid can be assessed, allowing to constrain the origin of the dolomitizing fluids, certainly when combined with Sr isotope analysis.
Report Summary: The goal of the 2023 visit to the TA Facility was to measure rainwater δ2H and δ18O values sampled at daily and monthly resolution from October 2022 to May 2023 in three different monitoring sites at North, South and Valley sites in Quito-Ecuador. Due to the complex orography, the sites experience varying intensities of rainfall and hailstorms. These measurements are part of a project aiming to understand the dynamical processes that contribute to the observed heavy and extreme precipitation events in the Tropical Andes, specifically in Quito.
Location of the installed rainfall collectors (red) and nearby meteorological REMMAQ stations (cyan). The borders of the city of Quito are marked by the white line. Credit: S Serrano-Vincenti.
Understanding these isotopic data will help the interpretation of the variations in δ2H and δ18O during intense rainfall events and subsequent fractionation due to local and upstream convection, orographic lift and moisture recycling. In addition to the measured isotopic signals, rainfall amount, pH, conductivity, and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) data will be statistically analysed from the sites. Similarly, instrumental daily precipitation and cloud coverage information from instrumental and satellite data will be examined for convective rainfall (thunderstorms) and moisture provenance characterisation.
The Los Gatos spectrometer at the ISIL Credit: S Serrano-Vincenti.
22-EPN3-086: Exploring the Effects of H+, On+, and Sn+ Irradiation of Water Ice, plus an ISM relevant Molecule, as a Potential Prebiotic Europa Ocean Analogue
Report Summary: At the AQUILA chamber in the ECRIS Laboratory at the Atomki Institute for Nuclear Research the effects of H+, O2+, and S5+ irradiation of water ice, plus Formamide, as a potential prebiotic Europa ocean analogue were explored. Three sodium chloride windows, covered with a 1:1 ice mixture of water and Formamide, were irradiated with ion beams. The windows were cooled down to 90K in vacuum, and a 200-250 nm thick ice layer was deposited at them. In the first experiment, the sample was irradiated using a 15keV H+ ion beam in 12 steps, up to a total fluence of 1.1x 1015 ion/cm2. After each irradiation steps an infra-red (IR) spectrum was taken to observe the irradiation products. After completing, the sample was warmed up to 300K in 30K increments, taking an IR spectrum at each interval. During both irradiation and heating, the sputtered molecules were monitored by QMS. Finally, after a full warming up of the cold parts we opened the chamber, removed the sample (for post-TA residue analysis using LCMS/MS), replaced the NaCl window, and pumped the chamber. This protocol was repeated (with different irradiation fluences) for 30keV O2+ and 60keV S5+ ion beams. All the sample windows have been taken for residue analysis. From initial analysis of the spectra it seems that the Formamide was broken, and formed products such as CO, CO2, OCN–, and CN–. Further investigation is required to confirm these results and to determine what other products were created during the irradiation.
First BepiColombo Flyby of Mercury Finds Electron Rain Triggers X-Ray Auroras
Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) Press Release
BepiColombo, the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission, has revealed how electrons raining down onto the surface of Mercury can trigger high-energy auroras.
The mission, which has been enroute to the Solar System’s innermost planet since 2018, successfully carried out its first Mercury flyby on 1 October 2021. An international team of researchers analysed data from three of BepiColombo’s instruments during the encounter. The outcomes of this study have been published today in the scientific journal, Nature Communications.
Terrestrial auroras are generated by interactions between the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun, and an electrically charged upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere, called the ionosphere. As Mercury only has a very thin atmosphere, called an exosphere, its auroras are generated by the solar wind interacting directly with the planet’s surface.
The BepiColombo mission consists of two spacecraft, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) led by ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO, named Mio after launch) led by JAXA, which are currently in a docked configuration for the seven-year cruise to the final orbit. During its first Mercury flyby, Bepicolombo swooped just 200 kilometres above the planet’s surface. The observations by plasma instruments onboard Mio enabled the first simultaneous observations of different kinds of charged particles from the solar wind in the vicinity of Mercury.
Lead author, Sae Aizawa, of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), now at JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and University of Pisa, Italy, said: “For the first time, we have witnessed how electrons are accelerated in Mercury’s magnetosphere and precipitated onto the planet’s surface. While Mercury’s magnetosphere is much smaller than Earth’s and has a different structure and dynamics, we have confirmation that the mechanism that generates aurorae is the same throughout the Solar System.”
During the flyby, BepiColombo approached Mercury from the night side of the northern hemisphere and made its closest approach near the morning side of the southern hemisphere. It observed the magnetosphere on the daytime side of the southern hemisphere, and then passed out of the magnetosphere back into the solar wind. Its instruments successfully observed the structure and the boundaries of the magnetosphere, including the magnetopause and bow shock. The data also showed that the magnetosphere was in an unusually compressed state, most likely due to high pressure conditions in the solar wind.
The acceleration of electrons appears to occur due to plasma processes in the dawn side of Mercury’s magnetosphere. The high energy electrons are transported from the tail region towards the planet, where they eventually rain down on the Mercury’s surface. Unimpeded by an atmosphere, they interact with material on the surface and cause X-rays to be emitted, resulting in an auroral glow. Although auroras had been observed before at Mercury by the NASA MESSENGER mission, the processes triggering the X-ray fluorescence by the surface had not been well understood and witnessed directly to date.
The study was carried out by a research team composed of the French Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Kyoto University, ISAS, the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (France), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany), the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Osaka University, Kanazawa University, and Tokai University. The work was partially supported through Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure funding from the European Commission under grant agreement No 871149.
Publication Details
Aizawa et al. Direct evidence of substorm-related impulsive injections of electrons at Mercury. Nature Communications, 18 July, 2023.
Artist’s representation of ESA/JAXA’s BepiColombo mission flying through precipitating electrons that can trigger X-rays auroras on the surface of Mercury.
Artist’s representation of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission flying through precipitating electrons that can trigger X-ray auroras on the surface of Mercury. Credit: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Thibaut Roger/Europlanet.
Dr Sae Aizawa Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS-UPS-CNES Toulouse France also at ISAS, Japan and University of Pisa, Italy sae.aizawa@irap.omp.eu
Dr Yuki Harada Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University Kyoto Japan haraday@kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Dr Moa Persson Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS-UPS-CNES Toulouse France also at University of Tokyo, Japan moa.persson@irap.omp.eu
Dr Nicolas André Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNRS-UPS-CNES Toulouse France Nicolas.andre@irap.omp.eu
Dr Go Murakami Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Sagamihara Japan go@stp.isas.jaxa.jp
The study used data mainly from Mio’s Mercury Electron Analyzer, MEA, complemented by data from the Mercury Ion Analyzer (MIA), and Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) instruments, which are part of the Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE). The MPPE consortium is led by the Principal Investigator, Yoshifumi Saito, from ISAS in Tokyo, Japan. https://mio.isas.jaxa.jp/en/mission/#mission_01
About ISAS/JAXA
In October 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was established as an independent administrative institution, integrating the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL). ISAS became one of four principal sections within the newly established organization. Its mission is to advance space science – scientific research conducted in outer space – in Japan, mainly by collaboration with universities. It also actively contributes to JAXA’s and Japan’s entire space development.
ISAS’s new efforts and results in space science are published in Japan and shared with the international community, thus promoting JAXA’s status and enhancing Japan’s intellectual reputation in the world.
Since 2005, Europlanet has provided Europe’s planetary science community with a platform to exchange ideas and personnel, share research tools, data and facilities, define key science goals for the future, and engage stakeholders, policy makers and European citizens with planetary science.
The Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149 to provide access to state-of-the-art research facilities and a mechanism to coordinate Europe’s planetary science community. The project builds on a €2 million Framework 6 Coordination Action (EuroPlaNet), a €6 million Framework 7 Research Infrastructure (Europlanet RI) and a €10 million Horizon 2020 Research Infrastructure (Europlanet 2020 RI) funded by the European Commission.
The Europlanet Society promotes the advancement of European planetary science and related fields for the benefit of the community and is open to individual and organisational members. The Society’s aims are:
To expand and support a diverse and inclusive planetary community across Europe through the activities of its 10 Regional Hubs.
To build the profile of the sector through outreach, education and policy activities
To underpin the key role Europe plays in planetary science through developing links at a national and international level.
The first Europlanet Research Infrastructure Meeting (ERIM), co-hosted with the 5th Europlanet Early Career (EPEC) Annual Week, will take place next week (19-23 June 2023) in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Almost 150 people will join in person, with a further 130 people registered to participate online.
If you will be joining us for ERIM 2023 and EPEC Annual Week, here are some final updates and reminders.
The Whova app is your online portal for ERIM and EPEC Annual Week 2023. Use the app to access sessions remotely, receive updates to the programme and other notices, and join discussions. It’s also a great place for networking with other ERIM participants. If you haven’t already done so, please download the Whova mobile app or access it from the desktop web platform. Add sessions to your personal agenda to help us ensure appropriate room allocations and keep the meeting running smoothly.
Remote participation: In the Whova app, click on ‘Agenda’ and then choose the session you want to join. The window for the live stream will open 10 minutes before the scheduled start of the session to enable speakers and panellists to test their audio/video and screen-sharing settings. The link is the same for speakers and general attendees. All attendees will be muted when they enter the WebEx livestream. You can request to be unmuted by using the ‘raise hand’ function or asking through the chat. Guidelines and tutorials for participants and speakers are available on the ERIM 2023 website.
Incident reporting: ERIM 2023 and EPEC Annual Week are committed to providing a safe, welcoming and inclusive experience for participants. In registering for ERIM and EPEC Annual Week 2023, physical and virtual participants have accepted that they are bound by the Code of Conduct for Europlanet 2024 RI. If you observe or experience behaviour that is in breach of the Code of Conduct and wish to file a report, please use the incident reporting form.
Quiet room: We will provide access to a quiet room within the Hotel Sorea for any on-site participant that may have need of a space to pray, breastfeed or simply have a moment of silence. We will advertise the location of this room daily on the Whova app Community Board and on the ERIM Notices Board in the lobby of the Hotel Sorea.
Social event and excursion:There are still some tickets available for the social event dinner (€30) on Wednesday 21 June at the Parlament Restaurant, which has panoramic views of the castle and Danube. Some places are also available on the bus for the excursion to Comenuis University Astronomical Observatory (10€) on Thursday 22 June. To sign up for either or both of these events, register now.
Public transport: Participants can get to the Hotel Sorea by bus or tram (the nearest stop is Kráľovské údolie). Hotel Družba and Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University (FMFI UK), are at bus/tram stop Botanická záhrada. More details on travel and local information are available on the ERIM website.
Changes to your plans:If your travel plans change or you want to change your participation from in-person to hybrid (or vice versa) please let us know so that we can keep the venue up to date with numbers.
Europlanet Challenges: An objective of the meeting will be to brainstorm action plans for 10 challenges related to the sustainability of Europlanet. On Monday, we will ask all participants to join one of 10 topical teams that will focus on each of the challenges. Look out for discussion threads on the Community Board where you can get involved.
Report Summary: This project is devoted to investigate geo- and biosignatures that can be preserved in mineral assemblages formed in extreme aqueous terrestrial environments. Environments such as subaerial hot springs that could had existed on early Mars, and cold-seep marine environments that can develop in icy-moon oceans are particularly interesting for astrobiology. In order to achieve this goal, we use information obtained by Raman spectroscopy and SEM/EDX microscopy.
Raman spectroscopy is a recently incorporated analytical technique in the payload of several space missions: SHERLOC@Perseverance, Supercam@Perseverance, RLS@ExoMars and RAX@MMX. It is based on the scattering effect generated by the interaction of photons with the electron density of the chemical bond of a molecule. The position and width of the Raman bands give information on the structure, chemical and isotopic composition and crystallinity of mineral. Studying changes in Raman frequencies allows to evaluate the biological or inorganic origin of the sample. This methodology is relevant for the in-situ identification of geo- and bio-signatures in soil/rock samples collected during space missions.
Several bio-mediated minerals sampled from several hydrothermal and cold-seep areas were characterised by micro-Raman spectroscopy coupled with scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX). Obtained Raman spectrum was correlated with its texture in order to identify patterns that would allow us to assess the biological or inorganic origin. We observed Raman band shifting and width changes. These results should be complemented by further experimental work to determine the involvement of bio-mediation processes.
The main goals of the 2023 visit were to study the electron impact emission cross sections, spectral features, and dissociation thresholds of CS2 gas. The products of CS2 – atomic sulfur and its ions, CS, excited CS2, and CS2+ – make CS2 a rich target of inquiry. Further, the products CS and atomic S are routinely observed in near-nucleus observations of comets (see e.g. discussion in Noonan et al. 2023). Measurements of sulfur abundances in comets show discrepancies between remote and in-situ observations, and improved electron-impact data for CS2 may help resolve this discrepancy. The present experiments are part of a long-term campaign to understand diagnostic electron-impact driven emission and ionization of diatomic/polyatomic molecules in cometary atmospheres. We expect these data will provide valuable insights in one of our ongoing projects to investigate sulfur abundances through analyses of 100+ archived comet observations. In the first week of our visit to the EIF lab, we measured the electron-impact spectrum of CS2 gas at various electron energies between 0 – 100 eV, with energies chosen based on known thresholds for CS, CS2+, and atomic fragment production. During this time, we also began developing an emission model for CS in order to simplify the future analyses of these data. In the second week of the visit, higher-resolution spectra and several cross sections were measured in order to begin comparisons to existing literature. We also identified, for the first time, the emissions of atomic fragments (S I, S II) in the near-infrared red-ward of 600 nm.
20-EPN2-91: Experimentally determined distribution of highly siderophile elements between sulfide- and silicate melts at highly reduced conditions: implications for terrestrial late accretion models
Report Summary: Fifteen high-pressure experiments on the PISL end-loaded piston cylinder press were performed at 1 GPa and 1873 K to systematically investigate the effects of Cu and Ni on metal- and sulfide-silicate partitioning of highly siderophile elements (HSE) Pd, Ru, Pt and Ir. Run times at peak conditions varied around 60-90 minutes. The starting compositions consisted of silicate, sulfide and metal powders with added metallic Si. The experimental run products consist of well-segregated metallic and sulfide blobs in a silicate glass. The addition of metallic Si and the initial reduction of the experiments result in the suppression of nugget formation. The glass does contain minute specks typical of S- saturated silicate melts – subsequent LA-ICP-MS measurements of the run products show that these specks do not contain HSE, as initially hypothesized. Electron microprobe and LA-ICP-MS analyses further show that the experimental run products are homogeneous and no compositional zoning was observed. Initial results show that the addition of Cu and Ni to the sulfide liquid decreases the O content of that sulfide liquid at a given FeO value of the silicate melt. This will most certainly affect the partitioning of the elements of interest – preliminary results for Pt confirm this by its variation by three orders of magnitude at a given FeO content. Preliminary results also show that Pd, Ru, Pt, Ir are all preferentially partitioned into the metallic liquid instead of the sulfide melt, confirming their preference for S-poor alloys relative to S-rich liquids.
Report Summary: Twelve high-pressure experiments on a piston cylinder press were performed at 1 GPa and 1673-1873 K to systematically investigate the sulfide-silicate partitioning of chalcophile elements as a function of (non-FeO) silicate melt compositional terms. Run times at peak conditions varied around 70 to 220 minutes. The starting compositions consisted of silicate and sulfide powders. The experimental run products consist of well-segregated sulfide blebs in a silicate glass. The glass contains minute sulfur blebs but subsequent LA-ICP-MS measurements showed that these blebs do not contain the elements of interest and are composed of Fe-S-O. Electron microprobe and LA-ICP-MS analyses further showed that the experimental run products are homogeneous and no compositional zoning was observed.
Initial results show that variations in silicate melt composition affect the partitioning of chalcophile elements in a non-ideal way – i.e. FeO activity varies significantly across different melt compositions, thereby affecting the geochemical behavior of the elements of interest. Therefore, it can be expected that in an arc-type differentiation suite the sulfide-silicate partitioning behavior may vary significantly, purely due to variations in FeO activity due to variable silicate melt compositions.
Analyses of Martian meteorites and their components predicts the existence of three main geochemical reservoirs on Mars, namely an enriched crust, a complementary depleted lithospheric mantle, and, lastly, a primitive asthenospheric mantle. Investigating the oxygen isotope composition of these reservoirs is critical for a full understanding of the accretion history of Mars. The Δ17 O composition of ~0.3‰, defined by the SNCs is believed to reflect the primary planetary composition of the martian mantle (1). However, analyses of ancient (>4.5 Ga) individual zircons and minerals from the NWA 7533 regolith breccia, record Δ17 O values that are characterized by a much heavier Δ17 O composition and thus different from the SNCs (2,3). A population of young zircons (<1.5 Ga), also from NWA 7533, are derived from a primitive reservoir located in the deep martian interior, as they are characterized by chondritic-like initial Hf isotope composition (4).
The oxygen isotope composition of a single grain from this population, indicate that this reservoir may be characterised by a different Δ17 O than the SNCs. If correct, the SNCs might not be representative of the bulk martian composition, but plausibly reflecting interaction with a heavy Δ17 O surface reservoir. Therefore, a main objective behind this study was to obtain high-precision oxygen isotope composition of 10 SNC meteorites to potentially detect Δ17 O heterogeneity. However, initial results show no isotopic variability, thus suggesting that the SNC source reservoir has not experienced interaction with surface reservoir, or that any heterogeneity has been erased.
20-EPN-008: Characterisation of a new type of extraterrestrial material through the study of Cumulate Porphyritic Olivine cosmic spherules
Virtual visit by Alice Stephant, Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziale (Italy) to TA2 Facility 21 – OU NanoSIMS 50L (UK). Dates of visit: 24 March – 25 August 2022
One of the major unresolved questions in the field of cosmochemistry is to understand the source(s) and timing of volatile delivery in the inner Solar System. The goal of this project was to examine primitive achondrites which volatile inventory has not yet been investigated, in order to determine what portion of these volatiles was incorporated in the early stages of the Solar System history, relative to late-veneer delivery. In this regard, primitive achondrite acapulcoites and lodranites were selected as they sample a common parent body, hence allowing to also investigate the effect of various degrees of planetary differentiation on volatile abundances and isotopic compositions.
Using the NanoSIMS 50L at the Open University, we analysed chlorine and water content, as well as their associated isotopic composition in phosphates from three acapulcoites and two lodranites. Our results suggest that the acapulcoite-lodranite parent body incorporated a similar source of volatiles than ordinary chondrites, which chemical composition is similar to the chondritic precursor of acapulcoites and lodranites, arguing for a common reservoir of both Cl and H in the inner Solar System.
20-EPN2-052: Water in silica-bearing iron meteorites – implications for early Solar System dichotomy
Visit by Ana Černok, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)/University of Trieste (Italy) to TA2 Facility 21 – OU NanoSIMS 50L (UK). Dates of visit: 14-21 November 2022 and virtual visit from 28 November – 20 December 2022
Understanding the volatile inventory of the earliest Solar System is inseparable from understanding which sources contributed to the volatiles of the oldest and relatively dry non-carbonaceous (NC) objects formed in the inner Solar System, and if they were different from wet carbonaceous (CC) materials, formed in the outer Solar System.
Two questions remain largely unanswered in this respect: (i) What are the abundances and isotopic composition of volatiles in the oldest NC objects and (ii) What were their sources? These questions can be answered by investigating some of the oldest objects in the Solar System, namely, the NC iron meteorites.
This Europlanet visit to the NanoSIMS facility was focused on trying to determine the content and isotopic composition of H or H2O inside minerals within iron meteorites. The iron meteorites are some of the oldest formed materials in the Solar System and hold key evidence if there has been any water available when they formed, and if there was: where did this water originate from?
Here we focused on understanding water abundance and its isotopic composition in some of the oldest NC silica bearing iron meteorites (IVA type): Muonionalusta, Gibeon and Steinbach. Other investigated irons did not contain any silica. The lowest water content was measured in Gibeon (< 10 ppm) and Muonionlusta (15–20 ppm), while minerals in Steinbach contained significantly more water (40–120 ppm). The δD values for Gibeon show a large range and greater uncertainties, due to low measured water contents. The δD values in Muonionalusta and Steinbach cluster between ~0–300 ‰. In fact, silica phases in both minerals cluster between ~0–200 ‰, while low-water cpx in Steinbach shows the highest δD values (200–300 ‰). The difference in δD values between mineral phases in Steinbach likely reflects the difference in their crystallisation history, where opx may have lost H resulting in increased D/H ratio (higher δD) due to degassing. Overall, the source of water in these NC irons is very similar to that of the Earth and the chondrites, while low-D reservoirs have not been detected.
TESCAN Clara Electron Microscope used for analyses of meteorite composition and structure prior to isotopic analyses with NanoSIMS. Credit: A Cernok.NanoSIMS instrument at the Open university used for isotopic analyses. Credit: A Cernok.NanoSIMS chamber, samples and standards. Credit: A Cernok.Mounting the samples onto the NanoSIMS holder. Credit: A Cernok.
Report Summary: A vast range of different gully morphologies occurs on Mars: from the classical gullies, which resemble gullies on Earth, to linear gullies that do not have an Earth counterpart and are found on Martian dunes. Previous experiments have shown that the sublimation of CO2 ice can fluidise and transport sediment in the classical gullies on Mars. However, the linear gullies are hypothesised to form by a different, although related CO2-driven mechanism. For linear dune gullies, it is hypothesised that they form by a block of CO2-ice sliding down the dune. This process has, however, never been observed in real life.
With our visit to the Mars chamber at the Open University, we aimed at deciphering the triggering and forming mechanisms of linear dune gullies on Mars. We identified the possible triggering mechanisms based on hypotheses presented in the literature. The identified mechanisms are; 1) the breaking off and sliding down of CO2-ice blocks, and 2) wind-blown sand being deposited on CO2 frost. We systematically tested these mechanisms in the Mars Chamber at the Open University by means of experiments. For all identified triggering mechanisms a parameter space was used to test the influence of e.g. CO2-ice block size, surface slope and grain size.
With our experiments, we show that CO2-ice blocks slide downslope and create small narrow gullies when dumped on top of fluvial sand, with a large grain-size distribution. However, when dumped on a finer aeolian sand under Martian atmosphere, they do not slide downslope but they dig themselves into the sand, slowly digging a gully downslope by vigorous sublimation and sediment mobilisation. We also show that when a small amount of warm sand is dumped on top of a CO2-frosted the sand is mobilised by CO2 sublimation, but that this process does not create the typical linear gullies we see on Mars.
20-EPN-066: Experimental investigation of CO2 frost condensation and sublimation through sediments in Martian conditions – implications for martian gullies and jets
Report Summary: Our experimental campaign aimed to understand sediment transport driven by CO2 ice sublimation condensed inside a porous regolith. To quantify the erosion of sediment associated with the sublimation of CO2 frost in the subsurface of a ~30° slope, we tested various compositions (MGS-1, sand, sand-dust mixtures). While some sediment showed little to no activity over several attempts (sand), others showed significant slope activity (sand + >=10% MGS clay).
20-EPN2-106: The effect of ice substrate to formation of mud flows in a low-pressure environment: insights for Martian sedimentary volcanism
Visit by Ondrej Kryza, Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic) to TA2.20 Open University Mars Chamber (UK). Dates of visit: 21 June – 12 July 2022
Report Summary: This project was designed to extend previous research of mud behaviour in the low-pressure conditions – with implications for potential sedimentary volcanism on Mars. The main objective was to test the effect of ice (or combined ice-sand) substrate to flow abilities and finite morphology of mudflows. As secondary objectives, testing of various inclinations of the surface, investigation of potential thermal erosion and extended study of another type of surfaces were implemented.
In the first part of the project, nine successful experiments, with pure and variously inclined (2-10°) ice surface, confirmed a different style of mud propagation than in case of the frozen sandy surface. The major observations are: 1) dominant and prevailing boiling of mud mixture during the propagation over deeply frozen ice surface (confirms significance of latent heat related to melting/recrystallization), 2) explosive potential of ice when in contact with the boiling mud (fracturing, contraction-dilatation). The effect of slope in tested range has no significant impact on these observations.
The second type of experiments tested combined ice-sand upper lid. Here, transition between boiling and freezing of mudflows was faster and finite morphology was more similar to lava-like flows which were described by Brož et al. (2020a).
In both cases, the thermal erosion was not confirmed. Moreover, during sectioning and investigation of the finite mudflow shapes and their base, the developed bumps, irregularities or even increased porosity of ice lid were discovered. This might refer to more complex thermal exchange between ice and mud with a sequential melting and re-freezing.
Report Summary: Current hostile conditions on the surface of Mars entail that, if any life form has ever existed on the planet, it may have adopted survival strategies like those evolved by terrestrial microorganisms inhabiting extreme environments e.g. Antarctica. There, one of the most common strategies observed is the cryptoendolithic microbial growth where free-living black fungi living along with algae and lichens within rocky interstices serve as a shield from excessive harmful solar radiation, and their extremotolerance can be mainly due to the presence of thick, highly melanised cell walls.
The ability of these cryptoendolytic microorganisms to thrive under extreme conditions raises the question of whether they cope with them by also regulating their metabolic expression in addition to melanin production, and whether a hypothetical microbial life on Mars could ever have arisen with similar adaptive strategies. In this optic, this study aimed to examin the metabolic regulation of melanised, cryptoendolithic microorganisms in martian scenario. To achieve this goal, colonies of the cryptoendolithic black fungus Cryomyces antarcticus previously exposed to simulated martian conditions such as perchlorates, sulfatic regolith soil and γ radiation, were then analysed with NMR spectrometry at the Center for Microbial Life Detection of the Medical University of Graz. Sample preparation and analysis were carried out in the Facility using standard protocols. Although only preliminary data are available at the time of report writing, significant differences in fungal metabolic expression were observed between the different simulated martian conditions tested.
Report Summary: This project focused on the analysis of three samples from the Black cave (Grotta Nera) located in Majella Park (Abruzzi region, Italy). This cave presents outstanding calcitic moonmilk structures that are unique in the World in terms of both abundance and dimension.
Metagenomic and metabolomic analyses of three samples (A1, apical; A2, lateral; A3, core) collected from one of the moonmilk speleothem from Grotta Nera, were performed. The DNA was extracted using the DNA powersoil kit (Qiagen) modified to include a bead-beating step with MagNA lyser (Roche) for the initial sample treatment. MG-RAST was used to analyse the metagenomic data considering both the taxonomy composition and the functional categories (KO categories). The taxonomy composition of the metagenomic sequences indicated that the dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Planctomycetes, Acidobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia. Actinobacteria were more abundant in the A1 and A2 as compared to the A3 sample, while in A3 Proteobacteria (in particular, Betaproteobacteria) was enriched as compared to other two samples. The metabolomic analysis was carried out using NMR, extracting the metabolites from 100 mg of each sample (in triplicate). The results indicated that in A2 and A3 samples were enriched by specific metabolites (glycerol in A3 and alanine, acetate, ethanolamine and 3-hydroxybutirate are enriched in A2) suggesting distinct metabolic activities in the microbial communities of these two samples.
