@article{ArridgeAchilleosAgarwaletal.2014, author = {Arridge, Christopher S. and Achilleos, N. and Agarwal, Jessica and Agnor, C. B. and Ambrosi, R. and Andre, N. and Badman, S. V. and Baines, K. and Banfield, D. and Barthelemy, M. and Bisi, M. M. and Blum, J. and Bocanegra-Bahamon, T. and Bonfond, B. and Bracken, C. and Brandt, P. and Briand, C. and Briois, C. and Brooks, S. and Castillo-Rogez, J. and Cavalie, T. and Christophe, B. and Coates, Andrew J. and Collinson, G. and Cooper, J. F. and Costa-Sitja, M. and Courtin, R. and Daglis, I. A. and De Pater, Imke and Desai, M. and Dirkx, D. and Dougherty, M. K. and Ebert, R. W. and Filacchione, Gianrico and Fletcher, Leigh N. and Fortney, J. and Gerth, I. and Grassi, D. and Grodent, D. and Gr{\"u}n, Eberhard and Gustin, J. and Hedman, M. and Helled, R. and Henri, P. and Hess, Sebastien and Hillier, J. K. and Hofstadter, M. H. and Holme, R. and Horanyi, M. and Hospodarsky, George B. and Hsu, S. and Irwin, P. and Jackman, C. M. and Karatekin, O. and Kempf, Sascha and Khalisi, E. and Konstantinidis, K. and Kruger, H. and Kurth, William S. and Labrianidis, C. and Lainey, V. and Lamy, L. L. and Laneuville, Matthieu and Lucchesi, D. and Luntzer, A. and MacArthur, J. and Maier, A. and Masters, A. and McKenna-Lawlor, S. and Melin, H. and Milillo, A. and Moragas-Klostermeyer, Georg and Morschhauser, Achim and Moses, J. I. and Mousis, O. and Nettelmann, N. and Neubauer, F. M. and Nordheim, T. and Noyelles, B. and Orton, G. S. and Owens, Mathew and Peron, R. and Plainaki, C. and Postberg, F. and Rambaux, N. and Retherford, K. and Reynaud, Serge and Roussos, E. and Russell, C. T. and Rymer, Am. and Sallantin, R. and Sanchez-Lavega, A. and Santolik, O. and Saur, J. and Sayanagi, Km. and Schenk, P. and Schubert, J. and Sergis, N. and Sittler, E. C. and Smith, A. and Spahn, Frank and Srama, Ralf and Stallard, T. and Sterken, V. and Sternovsky, Zoltan and Tiscareno, M. and Tobie, G. and Tosi, F. and Trieloff, M. and Turrini, D. and Turtle, E. P. and Vinatier, S. and Wilson, R. and Zarkat, P.}, title = {The science case for an orbital mission to Uranus: Exploring the origins and evolution of ice giant planets}, series = {Planetary and space science}, volume = {104}, journal = {Planetary and space science}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0032-0633}, doi = {10.1016/j.pss.2014.08.009}, pages = {122 -- 140}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Giant planets helped to shape the conditions we see in the Solar System today and they account for more than 99\% of the mass of the Sun's planetary system. They can be subdivided into the Ice Giants (Uranus and Neptune) and the Gas Giants (Jupiter and Saturn), which differ from each other in a number of fundamental ways. Uranus, in particular is the most challenging to our understanding of planetary formation and evolution, with its large obliquity, low self-luminosity, highly asymmetrical internal field, and puzzling internal structure. Uranus also has a rich planetary system consisting of a system of inner natural satellites and complex ring system, five major natural icy satellites, a system of irregular moons with varied dynamical histories, and a highly asymmetrical magnetosphere. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have explored Uranus, with a flyby in 1986, and no mission is currently planned to this enigmatic system. However, a mission to the uranian system would open a new window on the origin and evolution of the Solar System and would provide crucial information on a wide variety of physicochemical processes in our Solar System. These have clear implications for understanding exoplanetary systems. In this paper we describe the science case for an orbital mission to Uranus with an atmospheric entry probe to sample the composition and atmospheric physics in Uranus' atmosphere. The characteristics of such an orbiter and a strawman scientific payload are described and we discuss the technical challenges for such a mission. This paper is based on a white paper submitted to the European Space Agency's call for science themes for its large-class mission programme in 2013.}, language = {en} } @article{TosiCapaccioniCapriaetal.2019, author = {Tosi, Federico and Capaccioni, F. and Capria, M. T. and Mottola, Stefano and Zinzi, A. and Ciarniello, M. and Filacchione, G. and Hofstadter, M. and Fonti, S. and Formisano, M. and Kappel, David and K{\"u}hrt, E. and Leyrat, C. and Vincent, J-B and Arnold, G. and De Sanctis, M. C. and Longobardo, Andrea and Palomba, E. and Raponi, A. and Rousseau, Batiste and Schmitt, Bernard and Barucci, Maria Antonietta and Bellucci, Giancarlo and Benkhoff, Johannes and Bockelee-Morvan, D. and Cerroni, P. and Combe, J-Ph and Despan, D. and Erard, St{\´e}phane and Mancarella, F. and McCord, T. B. and Migliorini, Alessandra and Orofino, V and Piccioni, G.}, title = {The changing temperature of the nucleus of comet 67P induced by morphological and seasonal effects}, series = {Nature astronomy}, volume = {3}, journal = {Nature astronomy}, number = {7}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-3366}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-019-0740-0}, pages = {649 -- 658}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Knowledge of the surface temperature distribution on a comet's nucleus and its temporal evolution at different timescales is key to constraining its thermophysical properties and understanding the physical processes that take place at and below the surface. Here we report on time-resolved maps of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko retrieved on the basis of infrared data acquired by the Visible InfraRed and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) onboard the Rosetta orbiter in 2014, over a roughly two-month period in the pre-perihelion phase at heliocentric distances between 3.62 and 3.31 au from the Sun. We find that at a spatial resolution ≤15 m per pixel, the measured temperatures point out the major effect that self-heating, due to the complex shape of the nucleus, has on the diurnal temperature variation. The bilobate nucleus of comet 67P also induces daytime shadowing effects, which result in large thermal gradients. Over longer periods, VIRTIS-derived temperature values reveal seasonal changes driven by decreasing heliocentric distance combined with an increasing abundance of ice within the uppermost centimetre-thick layer, which implies the possibility of having a largely pristine nucleus interior already in the shallow subsurface}, language = {en} }