The electrical properties of Titan’s surface at the Huygens landing site measured with the PWA-HASI Mutual Impedance Probe. New approach and new findings

Autor: V. Brown, Irmgard Jernej, Michel Hamelin, Valérie Ciarletti, Alice Le Gall, Konrad Schwingenschuh, C. Beghin, Réjean Grard, Ralph D. Lorenz, Francesca Ferri, Jose-Juan Lopez-Moreno, Anthony Lethuillier
Přispěvatelé: PLANETO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Research and Scientific Support Department, ESTEC (RSSD), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency (ESA)-European Space Agency (ESA), Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales [Paris] (CNES), Space Research Institute of Austrian Academy of Sciences (IWF), Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Madrid] (CSIC), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD] (APL), Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali 'Giuseppe Colombo' (CISAS), Universita degli Studi di Padova, Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA)-Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua (Unipd)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Permittivity
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
[SDU.ASTR.EP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]
Dielectric
Satellite surfaces
Conductivity
01 natural sciences
symbols.namesake
0103 physical sciences
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Electrical impedance
Electrical conductor
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Remote sensing
Physics
[SDU.ASTR.SR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Solar and Stellar Astrophysics [astro-ph.SR]
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Data reduction techniques
Computational physics
[SDU.ASTR.IM]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic [astro-ph.IM]
[SPI.ELEC]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Electromagnetism
Ground conductivity
13. Climate action
Space and Planetary Science
Titan surface
symbols
Titan (rocket family)
Titan
Matrix method
Zdroj: Icarus
Icarus, Elsevier, 2016, 270, pp.272-290. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2015.11.035⟩
Icarus, 2016, 270, pp.272-290. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2015.11.035⟩
ISSN: 0019-1035
1090-2643
Popis: International audience; Ten years after the successful landing of the Huygens Probe on the surface of Titan, we reassess the derivation of ground complex permittivity using the PWA-MIP/HASI measurements (Permittivity, Waves and Altimetry-Mutual Impedance Probe/Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument) at the frequencies 45, 90 and 360 Hz. For this purpose, we have developed a numerical method, namely “the capacity-influence matrix method”, able to account for new insights on the Huygens probe attitude at its final resting position. We find that the surface of Titan at the landing site has a dielectric constant of 2.5±0.3 and a conductivity of 1.2±0.6 nS/m, in agreement with previously published results but with much more reliable error estimates. These values speak in favour of a photochemical origin of the material in the first meter of the subsurface. We also propose, for the first time, a plausible explanation for the sudden change observed by PWA-MIP ∼11 min after landing: this change corresponds to a drop in the ground conductivity, probably due to the removal of a superficial conductive layer in association with the release of volatile materials warmed by the Huygens Probe.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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