Exploring the Earth, Solar System and Beyond

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Exploring the Earth, Solar System and Beyond Larry James, Deputy Director March 2017 The Quest From Caltech students testing rockets to exploring the planets in our lifetime Caltech students (1936) Missiles (1940s) Explorer 1 (1958) Mars Exploration Rovers Spitzer Space Telescope Earth Science (2004 – present) (2004 – present) (1978 – now) JPL’s Tour of the Solar System Dawn at Ceres Ceres Discovery of Interesting Features Occator Crater Yalode Crater Ahuna Crater Ceres Mountain Ahuna Mons 7 Juno Orbit Insertion July 4, 2016 Juno Mission Trailer 9 Galileo’s Sketch of Jupiter’s Moons January 13, 1610 10 Juno’s View of Jupiter’s Moons July 5, 2016 11 Saturn’s Rings 12 A New Moon is Discovered Final Orbits Science: Unique Observations • First ever direct measurements of ring particle composition • Highest resolution main ring observations – Radio occultation, imaging – First active Radar • Highest resolution Saturn polar observations and aurora • Direct sampling of Saturn’s atmosphere – Final five periapses Ride Along with Cassini Final E Ticket through the Rings Saturn’s Moons 17 Curiosity’s Selfie 18 Curiosity Exploration of Yellowknife Bay in Gale Crater “Green-grey Mars” Clay material: formed in neutral pH water Detection of key elements needed for life Mars was habitable!!! 19 Strata at Base of Mt Sharp Indicates the flow of water before the mountain formed 20 Curiosity Near Large Sand Dunes 21 Seasonal Flows in Mars’ Valles Marineris Curiosity rover is exploring Gale Crater to understand the habitability of Mars, its potential for preserving organic materials, and the major environmental transitions in its early history Mars Science Laboratory: Mission to Mount Sharp jpl.nasa.gov Sulfate Unit (8 km) Clay Unit (6 km) Mount Sharp Hematite Ridge (5 km) Gale Crater Murray Formation (arrived Sept. 2014) Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 24 OCO-2 Follows Carbon Dioxide Through the Atmosphere JPL Science and Exploration Thrusts 1 2 3 4 Formation of and life in Life outside our solar Journey to Mars our solar system system and how the Our home planet Universe formed 26 InSight 2018 Launch Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport 27 Mars 2020 Payload 28 Europa: Gem of the Jupiter System Europa Clipper & Lander 2022 & 2024 Launches Big Bang! Psyche: Journey to a Metal World 2023 Launch GRACE Follow-On Launch: August 2017 Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Surface Water Ocean Topography 2020 Launch NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar 2020 Launch 34 Dare Mighty Things.

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Ahuna Mons on Ceres 29 July 2019
Image: Ahuna Mons on Ceres 29 July 2019 More recently, a study of Dawn data led by ESA research fellow Ottaviano Ruesch and Antonio Genova (Sapienza Università di Roma), published in Nature Geoscience in June, suggests that a briny, muddy 'slurry' exists below Ceres' surface, surging upwards towards and through the crust to create Ahuna Mons. Another recent study, led by Javier Ruiz of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and published in Nature Astronomy in July, also indicates that the dwarf planet has a surprisingly dynamic geology. Ceres was also the focus of an earlier study by Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA ESA's Herschel space observatory, which detected water vapour around the dwarf planet. Published in Nature in 2014, the result provided a strong indication that Ceres has ice on or near its surface. This image, based on observations from NASA's Dawn confirmed Ceres' icy crust via direct Dawn spacecraft, shows the largest mountain on observation in 2016, however, the contribution of the dwarf planet Ceres. the ice deposits to Ceres' exosphere turned out to be much lower than that inferred from the Herschel Dawn was the first mission to orbit an object in the observations. asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and spent time at both large asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet The perspective view depicted in this image uses Ceres. Ceres is one of just five recognised dwarf enhanced-color combined images taken using blue planets in the Solar System (Pluto being another). (440 nm), green (750 nm), and infrared (960 nm) Dawn entered orbit around this rocky world on 6 filters, with a resolution of 35 m/pixel.
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New Studies Provide Unexpected Insights Into Dwarf Planet Ceres 1 September 2016
New studies provide unexpected insights into dwarf planet Ceres 1 September 2016 Mons. The dome-shaped mountain has an elliptical base and a concave top, as well as other properties that indicate cryovolcanism. The authors applied models to determine the age of Ahuna Mons, finding it to have formed after the craters surrounding it, which suggests that it came into existence relatively recently. There is no evidence for compressional tectonism, nor for erosional features, the authors say; it appears that extrusion is a main driver behind the formation of Ahuna Mons. Although the exact material driving the cryovolcano cannot be determined without further data, the authors propose that chlorine salts, which have been previously detected in a different region of Ceres, could have been present with water ice below Ceres' surface and driven the chemical activity that formed Ahuna Mons. In a second study, Jean-Philippe Combe et al. A high resolution Dawn framing camera image of Ahuna describe the detection of water ice - exposed on the Mons. Image width is 30 km. Credit: NASA/JPL- surface of Ceres. The dwarf planet was known to Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA contain water ice, but water ice is also expected to be unstable on its surface, so scientists were unsure whether it could be detected there. They used the Visible and InfraRed (VIR) mapping Six studies published today in Science highlight spectrometer onboard the Dawn spacecraft to new and unexpected insights into Ceres, a dwarf analyze a highly reflective zone in a young crater planet and the largest object in the asteroid belt called Oxo, on five occasions during 2015.
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March 21–25, 2016
FORTY-SEVENTH LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE PROGRAM OF TECHNICAL SESSIONS MARCH 21–25, 2016 The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center The Woodlands, Texas INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Universities Space Research Association Lunar and Planetary Institute National Aeronautics and Space Administration CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS Stephen Mackwell, Lunar and Planetary Institute Eileen Stansbery, NASA Johnson Space Center PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIRS David Draper, NASA Johnson Space Center Walter Kiefer, Lunar and Planetary Institute PROGRAM COMMITTEE P. Doug Archer, NASA Johnson Space Center Nicolas LeCorvec, Lunar and Planetary Institute Katherine Bermingham, University of Maryland Yo Matsubara, Smithsonian Institute Janice Bishop, SETI and NASA Ames Research Center Francis McCubbin, NASA Johnson Space Center Jeremy Boyce, University of California, Los Angeles Andrew Needham, Carnegie Institution of Washington Lisa Danielson, NASA Johnson Space Center Lan-Anh Nguyen, NASA Johnson Space Center Deepak Dhingra, University of Idaho Paul Niles, NASA Johnson Space Center Stephen Elardo, Carnegie Institution of Washington Dorothy Oehler, NASA Johnson Space Center Marc Fries, NASA Johnson Space Center D. Alex Patthoff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Cyrena Goodrich, Lunar and Planetary Institute Elizabeth Rampe, Aerodyne Industries, Jacobs JETS at John Gruener, NASA Johnson Space Center NASA Johnson Space Center Justin Hagerty, U.S. Geological Survey Carol Raymond, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lindsay Hays, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Paul Schenk,
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New Animation Takes a Colorful Flight Over Ceres 29 January 2016
New animation takes a colorful flight over Ceres 29 January 2016 "The simulated overflight shows the wide range of crater shapes that we have encountered on Ceres. The viewer can observe the sheer walls of the crater Occator, and also Dantu and Yalode, where the craters are a lot flatter," said Ralf Jaumann, a Dawn mission scientist at DLR. Dawn is the first mission to visit Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After orbiting asteroid Vesta for 14 months in 2011 and 2012, Dawn arrived at Ceres in March 2015. The spacecraft is currently in its final and lowest mapping orbit, at about 240 miles (385 Occator Crater (57 miles, 92 kilometers) on Ceres, home kilometers) from the surface. of the brightest spots on the dwarf planet, in a simulated view using Dawn images. Credit: NASA/JPL- Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Provided by NASA A colorful new animation shows a simulated flight over the surface of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The movie shows Ceres in enhanced color, which helps to highlight subtle differences in the appearance of surface materials. Scientists believe areas with shades of blue contain younger, fresher material, including flows, pits and cracks. The animated flight over Ceres emphasizes the most prominent craters, such as Occator, and the tall, conical mountain Ahuna Mons. Features on Ceres are named for earthly agricultural spirits, deities and festivals. The movie was produced by members of Dawn's framing camera team at the German Aerospace Center, DLR, using images from Dawn's high- altitude mapping orbit.
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Nasa Planetary Mission Concept Study: Assessing Dwarf Planet Ceres’ Past and Present Habitability Potential
NASA PLANETARY MISSION CONCEPT STUDY: ASSESSING DWARF PLANET CERES’ PAST AND PRESENT HABITABILITY POTENTIAL. J. C. Castillo-Rogez1, M. T. Bland2, D. L. Buczkowski3, A. R. Hen- drix4, K. E. Miller5, T. H. Prettyman4, L.C. Quick6, J. E. C. Scully1, Y. Sekine7, M. M. Sori8,9, T. Titus2, D. A. Wil- liams10, H. Yano11, M. Zolensky12, C. A. Raymond1, J. Brophy1, W. Frazier1, G. Lantoine1, B. G. Lee1, M. S. Kelley13, 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. 2United States Geological Sur- vey, Flagstaff, AZ. 3John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD. 4Planetary Science Institute. 5Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX. 6NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. 7Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. 8Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Ari- zona, Tucson, AZ. 9Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. 10School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ. 11Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Kana- gawa, Japan. 12Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. 13NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. Email: [email protected]. Introduction: The Dawn mission revolutionized ical evolution. While the latter goal does not directly re- our understanding of Ceres during the same decade that late to ROW, it addresses the place of Ceres in the early has also witnessed the rise of ocean worlds as a research solar system and its potential connection to other large and exploration focus. We will report progress on the dwarf planets. Planetary Mission Concept Study (PMCS) on the future Future exploration of Ceres would reveal the de- exploration of Ceres under the New Frontiers or Flag- gree to which liquid water and other environmental fac- ship program that was selected for NASA funding in tors may have combined to make this dwarf planet a October 2019.
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Dawn at Ceres
Ceres from Dawn’s Data M.C. De Sanctis Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali – INAF Rome, Italy [email protected] Ceres - The Basics • 482 x 482 x 446 km • mean radius 470 km • Rotation period 9.074 hr • Ceres’ surface reflects <10% of incident sunlight • Average surface temperature 110- 155K-Maximum at equator-subsolar point ~230-240 K • Density 2.162 kg m-3 • Ceres as a whole is ~50 vol.% water • Early models suggested Ceres could have a 50-100 km thick ice shell NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Road Map to Vesta and Ceres Ceres is the first ice-rich body subject to extensive mapping for Vesta Departure geology, mineralogy, elemental (2012) composition, and geophysics Earth Dawn launch (2007) Sun Vesta Arrival (2011) Ceres Arrival (March 2015) Dawn Instruments + Radio Antenna Camera Gamma Ray and Visible and Infrared Neutron Mapping Spectrometers Provided and Spectrometers operated by the Provided by the Italian Space German Aerospace Provided by Los Alamos Agency and the Italian National Agency and the Max National Labs and operated Institute for Astrophysics, and Planck Institute for by the Planetary Science operated by the Italian Institute Solar System Institute for Space Astrophysics and Research Planetology Why Ceres ? • The early asteroid belt may have been scoured by icy bodies, scattered by the formation of the remaining gas giants. • Today only some of the largest asteroids remain relatively undisrupted, and Ceres has a very primitive surface, water-bearing minerals, and possibly a very weak atmosphere and frost. 5 Ceres’ Peer Group: Icy Moon and Dwarf Planets • Ceres is expected to have water and ice in its interior, but more rock than the icy moons Enceladus and Dione.
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Ceres: Astrobiological Target and Possible Ocean World
ASTROBIOLOGY Volume 20 Number 2, 2020 Research Article ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1999 Ceres: Astrobiological Target and Possible Ocean World Julie C. Castillo-Rogez,1 Marc Neveu,2,3 Jennifer E.C. Scully,1 Christopher H. House,4 Lynnae C. Quick,2 Alexis Bouquet,5 Kelly Miller,6 Michael Bland,7 Maria Cristina De Sanctis,8 Anton Ermakov,1 Amanda R. Hendrix,9 Thomas H. Prettyman,9 Carol A. Raymond,1 Christopher T. Russell,10 Brent E. Sherwood,11 and Edward Young10 Abstract Ceres, the most water-rich body in the inner solar system after Earth, has recently been recognized to have astrobiological importance. Chemical and physical measurements obtained by the Dawn mission enabled the quantiﬁcation of key parameters, which helped to constrain the habitability of the inner solar system’s only dwarf planet. The surface chemistry and internal structure of Ceres testify to a protracted history of reactions between liquid water, rock, and likely organic compounds. We review the clues on chemical composition, temperature, and prospects for long-term occurrence of liquid and chemical gradients. Comparisons with giant planet satellites indicate similarities both from a chemical evolution standpoint and in the physical mechanisms driving Ceres’ internal evolution. Key Words: Ceres—Ocean world—Astrobiology—Dawn mission. Astro- biology 20, xxx–xxx. 1. Introduction these bodies, that is, their potential to produce and maintain an environment favorable to life. The purpose of this article arge water-rich bodies, such as the icy moons, are is to assess Ceres’ habitability potential along the same lines Lbelieved to have hosted deep oceans for at least part of and use observational constraints returned by the Dawn their histories and possibly until present (e.g., Consolmagno mission and theoretical considerations.
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Features Named After 07/15/2015) and the 2018 IAU GA (Features Named Before 01/24/2018)
The following is a list of names of features that were approved between the 2015 Report to the IAU GA (features named after 07/15/2015) and the 2018 IAU GA (features named before 01/24/2018). Mercury (31) Craters (20) Akutagawa Ryunosuke; Japanese writer (1892-1927). Anguissola SofonisBa; Italian painter (1532-1625) Anyte Anyte of Tegea, Greek poet (early 3rd centrury BC). Bagryana Elisaveta; Bulgarian poet (1893-1991). Baranauskas Antanas; Lithuanian poet (1835-1902). Boznańska Olga; Polish painter (1865-1940). Brooks Gwendolyn; American poet and novelist (1917-2000). Burke Mary William EthelBert Appleton â€œBillieâ€; American performing artist (1884- 1970). Castiglione Giuseppe; Italian painter in the court of the Emperor of China (1688-1766). Driscoll Clara; American stained glass artist (1861-1944). Du Fu Tu Fu; Chinese poet (712-770). Heaney Seamus Justin; Irish poet and playwright (1939 - 2013). JoBim Antonio Carlos; Brazilian composer and musician (1927-1994). Kerouac Jack, American poet and author (1922-1969). Namatjira Albert; Australian Aboriginal artist, pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art (1902-1959). Plath Sylvia; American poet (1932-1963). Sapkota Mahananda; Nepalese poet (1896-1977). Villa-LoBos Heitor; Brazilian composer (1887-1959). Vonnegut Kurt; American writer (1922-2007). Yamada Kosaku; Japanese composer and conductor (1886-1965). Planitiae (9) Apārangi Planitia Māori word for the planet Mercury. Lugus Planitia Gaulish equivalent of the Roman god Mercury. Mearcair Planitia Irish word for the planet Mercury. Otaared Planitia Arabic word for the planet Mercury. Papsukkal Planitia Akkadian messenger god. Sihtu Planitia Babylonian word for the planet Mercury. StilBon Planitia Ancient Greek word for the planet Mercury.
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Programme Book
EPSC2018 European Planetary Science Congress 2018 16–21 September 2018 TU Berlin | Berlin | Germany Programme Book © TU Berlin/Dahl access to access to cafeteria area first floor area Information & registration Jupiter room Ground floor area H0104 Ground floor area EPSCEuropean Planetary Science Congress Mars Venus Saturn Uranus Neptune room room room room room H0112 H0111 H0110 H0107 H0106 access to ground floor area Cafeteria area Cafeteria area EPSCEuropean Planetary Science Congress Mercury Press conference Press room room room H2035 H2036 H2037 Second floor area Second floor area EPSCEuropean Planetary Science Congress EEuropeaPn PlanetarSy Science CCongress Table of contents 1 Welcome …………………………………2 General information …………………………………4 Exhibitors, Community events …………………………………6 Splinter meetings & workshops .………………………….….…7 Session overview ……………………………..….8 Monday – Oral programme ..……………………………….9 Tuesday – Oral programme ……………………………….19 Tuesday – Poster programme .………………………………30 Wednesday – Oral programme .……….…………………..…42 Wednesday – Poster programme .………………………………51 Thursday – Oral programme ……………………………….60 Thursday – Poster programme ……………………………….71 Friday – Oral programme ……………………………….81 Author index ……………………………….91 European Planetary Science Congress 2018 2 Welcome Message from the Organizers amateur astronomers, policy makers, the next generation of scientists and engineers, and On behalf of the Executive Committee, the planetary scientists around the world. Scientific Organizing Committee and the Local Organizing Committee, welcome
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The Geology of Ceres and Vesta
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 12, EPSC2018-449, 2018 European Planetary Science Congress 2018 EEuropeaPn PlanetarSy Science CCongress c Author(s) 2018 The Geology of Ceres and Vesta K. Krohn (1), R. Jaumann (1,2) D. L. Buczkowski (3), D. A. Williams (4), M.C. De Sanctis (5), C. M. Pieters (6), K. A. Otto (1), O. Ruesch (7), K. Stephan (1), F. Tosi (5), R. J. Wagner (1), F. Zambon (5), C. A. Raymond (8), C. T. Russell (9), and the Dawn Science Team (1) Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany ([email protected]); (2) Freie Universität Berlin, Inst. of Geosciences, Planetology and Remote Sensing; (3) Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, USA; (4) Arizona State University, Tempe, USA; (5) INAF-IAPS, National Institute for Astrophysics, Rome, Italy, (6) Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; (7) ESTEC, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands; (8) NASA JPL, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, (9) UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA. ([email protected]) larger Rheasilvia basin [5,6]. They are strongly correlated with Vesta’s global tectonic patterns, the two distinct sets of large trough-and groove terrrains 1. Introduction named Saturnalia and Divalia Fossae, respectively, In 2007 the Dawn spacecraft was launched into space and may have formed them [5,7]. Overall, Vesta shows a complex topography with extreme height in order to study the two most massive objects of the differences resulting in steep slopes, locally asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres. The goal of the exceeding 40° [8]. Comparable to the Moon, impact mission was to understand the conditions and craters on Vesta range from fresh to highly degraded, processes that formed the early solar system on the indicating an intensive cratering history [5,6].
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Ahuna Mons Lonely No More Volcanic Domes Are Common in Our Solar System but So Far Only One Has Been Identifed on Dwarf Planet Ceres
news & views CERES Ahuna Mons lonely no more Volcanic domes are common in our Solar System but so far only one has been identifed on dwarf planet Ceres. New research suggests that numerous volcanic domes may have formed throughout Ceres’s history, indicating that cryovolcanism may have once been more common on the dwarf planet. Lynnae C. Quick n Earth we are familiar with volcanism, the process by which Omolten rock from the interior is spewed onto the surface. Volcanic eruptions may be violent, such as the eruptions of Mount St. Helens and Krakatoa, or they may be quiescent, such as the meandering lava flows from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano. Volcanoes are also present on other planets, and may grow to enormous heights, such as Olympus Mons on Mars. On ice-rich bodies in our outer Solar System, instead of manifesting as the extrusion of molten rock, or lava, volcanism is often expressed as the extrusion of low-temperature, liquid solutions containing water, ice crystals and salts. This exotic volcanism, termed cryovolcanism (‘cryo’ from the ancient Greek word ‘kryos’, which means ‘icy cold’), occurs or has occurred on several icy satellites, including Triton1, Europa2, Enceladus3 and possibly Titan4. Dwarf planet Ceres is also a relatively ice-rich body5. Its past cryovolcanic activity is evidenced by the heretofore lonely cryovolcanic dome, Ahuna Mons6 (Fig. 1). Writing in Nature Astronomy, Michael Sori and colleagues report the identification of additional domes that may be cryovolcanic in origin. These findings shed new light on the cryovolcanic history of Ceres7. Clustered volcanic domes can be found elsewhere in the Solar System8, including ice-rich domes similar to Ahuna Mons2,9.
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ROADMAP for the EXPLORATION of DWARF PLANET CERES. J. C. Castillo-Rogez1, C
Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop 2017 (LPI Contrib. No. 1989) 8077.pdf ROADMAP FOR THE EXPLORATION OF DWARF PLANET CERES. J. C. Castillo-Rogez1, C. A. Ray- 1 2 3 4 1 mond , C. T. Russell , A. S. Rivkin , M. Neveu , Ceres afficionados all over the world. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA ([email protected]), 2 Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA. 3Applied Physics Laboratory, John Hopkins Universi- ty, Laurel, MD. 4School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Introduction: Ceres, the largest asteroid, and only was identified prior to Dawn’s arrival [1] and have led dwarf planet found in the inner solar system, offers a Ceres to turn from a “credible” possible ocean world to playground for testing hypotheses pertaining to the a “candidate” ocean world [9]. Specifically, in the early Solar system evolution as well as the habitability frame of the Roadmap for Ocean Worlds Goals, Dawn potential of large volatile-rich bodies. The Dawn mis- brought positive answers to the following questions: sion has revolutionized our undertanding of Ceres in a Goal 1 (Identify Ocean Worlds), A.1 Is there remnant decade that has also seen major breakthroughs in solar radiogenic heating? B.1 Do signatures of geologic system dynamical modeling, cosmochemistry, and the activity indicate the possible presence of a subsurface rise of ocean worlds. Probably the most significant ocean? B.7 Can the surface composition be linked with finding from the Dawn mission is unambiguous evi- the presence of a sub-surface ocean? dence for oceanic material right on Ceres’ surface as- sociated at least in one place with a recent cryovolcan- Dawn’s discoveries at Ceres also introduced new ic feature.
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