@article{PostbergKempfSchmidtetal.2009, author = {Postberg, Frank and Kempf, Sascha and Schmidt, J{\"u}rgen and Brilliantov, Nikolai V. and Beinsen, Alexander and Abel, Bernd and Buck, Udo and Srama, Ralf}, title = {Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/Nature08046}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Saturn's moon Enceladus emits plumes of water vapour and ice particles from fractures near its south pole(1-5), suggesting the possibility of a subsurface ocean(5-7). These plume particles are the dominant source of Saturn's E ring(7,8). A previous in situ analysis(9) of these particles concluded that the minor organic or siliceous components, identified in many ice grains, could be evidence for interaction between Enceladus' rocky core and liquid water(9,10). It was not clear, however, whether the liquid is still present today or whether it has frozen. Here we report the identification of a population of E-ring grains that are rich in sodium salts (similar to 0.5- 2\% by mass), which can arise only if the plumes originate from liquid water. The abundance of various salt components in these particles, as well as the inferred basic pH, exhibit a compelling similarity to the predicted composition of a subsurface Enceladus ocean in contact with its rock core(11). The plume vapour is expected to be free of atomic sodium. Thus, the absence of sodium from optical spectra(12) is in good agreement with our results. In the E ring the upper limit for spectroscopy(12) is insufficiently sensitive to detect the concentrations we found.}, language = {en} } @article{TobieGieseHurfordetal.2010, author = {Tobie, Gabriel and Giese, Bernd and Hurford, Terry Anthony and Lopes, Rosaly M. and Nimmo, Francis and Postberg, Frank and Retherford, Kurt D. and Schmidt, J{\"u}rgen and Spencer, John R. and Tokano, Tetsuya and Turtle, Elizabeth P.}, title = {Surface, subsurface and atmosphere exchanges on the satellites of the outer solar system}, issn = {0038-6308}, doi = {10.1007/s11214-010-9641-3}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The surface morphology of icy moons is affected by several processes implicating exchanges between their subsurfaces and atmospheres (if any). The possible exchange of material between the subsurface and the surface is mainly determined by the mechanical properties of the lithosphere, which isolates the deep, warm and ductile ice material from the cold surface conditions. Exchanges through this layer occur only if it is sufficiently thin and/or if it is fractured owing to tectonic stresses, melt intrusion or impact cratering. If such conditions are met, cryomagma can be released, erupting fresh volatile-rich materials onto the surface. For a very few icy moons (Titan, Triton, Enceladus), the emission of gas associated with cryovolcanic activity is sufficiently large to generate an atmosphere, either long- lived or transient. For those moons, atmosphere-driven processes such as cryovolcanic plume deposition, phase transitions of condensable materials and wind interactions continuously re-shape their surfaces, and are able to transport cryovolcanically generated materials on a global scale. In this chapter, we discuss the physics of these different exchange processes and how they affect the evolution of the satellites' surfaces.}, language = {en} } @article{PostbergSchmidtHillieretal.2011, author = {Postberg, Frank and Schmidt, J. and Hillier, J. and Kempf, Sascha and Srama, Ralf}, title = {A salt-water reservoir as the source of a compositionally stratified plume on Enceladus}, series = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, volume = {474}, journal = {Nature : the international weekly journal of science}, number = {7353}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {0028-0836}, doi = {10.1038/nature10175}, pages = {620 -- 622}, year = {2011}, abstract = {The discovery of a plume of water vapour and ice particles emerging from warm fractures ('tiger stripes') in Saturn's small, icy moon Enceladus(1-6) raised the question of whether the plume emerges from a subsurface liquid source(6-8) or from the decomposition of ice(9-12). Previous compositional analyses of particles injected by the plume into Saturn's diffuse E ring have already indicated the presence of liquid water(8), but the mechanisms driving the plume emission are still debated(13). Here we report an analysis of the composition of freshly ejected particles close to the sources. Salt-rich ice particles are found to dominate the total mass flux of ejected solids (more than 99 per cent) but they are depleted in the population escaping into Saturn's E ring. Ice grains containing organic compounds are found to be more abundant in dense parts of the plume. Whereas previous Cassini observations were compatible with a variety of plume formation mechanisms, these data eliminate or severely constrain non-liquid models and strongly imply that a salt-water reservoir with a large evaporating surface(7,8) provides nearly all of the matter in the plume.}, language = {en} } @article{PostbergGruenHoranyietal.2011, author = {Postberg, Frank and Gr{\"u}n, Eberhard and Horanyi, Mihaly and Kempf, Sascha and Krueger, Harald and Schmidt, J{\"u}rgen and Spahn, Frank and Srama, Ralf and Sternovsky, Zoltan and Trieloff, Mario}, title = {Compositional mapping of planetary moons by mass spectrometry of dust ejecta}, series = {Planetary and space science}, volume = {59}, journal = {Planetary and space science}, number = {14}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0032-0633}, doi = {10.1016/j.pss.2011.05.001}, pages = {1815 -- 1825}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Classical methods to analyze the surface composition of atmosphereless planetary objects from an orbiter are IR and gamma ray spectroscopy and neutron backscatter measurements. The idea to analyze surface properties with an in-situ instrument has been proposed by Johnson et al. (1998). There, it was suggested to analyze Europa's thin atmosphere with an ion and neutral gas spectrometer. Since the atmospheric components are released by sputtering of the moon's surface, they provide a link to surface composition. Here we present an improved, complementary method to analyze rocky or icy dust particles as samples of planetary objects from which they were ejected. Such particles, generated by the ambient meteoroid bombardment that erodes the surface, are naturally present on all atmosphereless moons and planets. The planetary bodies are enshrouded in clouds of ballistic dust particles, which are characteristic samples of their surfaces. In situ mass spectroscopic analysis of these dust particles impacting onto a detector of an orbiting spacecraft reveals their composition. Recent instrumental developments and tests allow the chemical characterization of ice and dust particles encountered at speeds as low as 1 km/s and an accurate reconstruction of their trajectories. Depending on the sampling altitude, a dust trajectory sensor can trace back the origin of each analyzed grain with about 10 km accuracy at the surface. Since the detection rates are of the order of thousand per orbit, a spatially resolved mapping of the surface composition can be achieved. Certain bodies (e.g., Europa) with particularly dense dust clouds, could provide impact statistics that allow for compositional mapping even on single flybys. Dust impact velocities are in general sufficiently high at orbiters about planetary objects with a radius > 1000 km and with only a thin or no atmosphere. In this work we focus on the scientific benefit of a dust spectrometer on a spacecraft orbiting Earth's Moon as well as Jupiter's Galilean satellites. This 'dust spectrometer' approach provides key chemical and isotopic constraints for varying provinces or geological formations on the surfaces, leading to better understanding of the body's geological evolution.}, language = {en} } @article{KempfSramaGruenetal.2012, author = {Kempf, Sascha and Srama, Ralf and Gr{\"u}n, Eberhard and Mocker, Anna and Postberg, Frank and Hillier, Jon K. and Horanyi, Mihaly and Sternovsky, Zoltan and Abel, Bernd and Beinsen, Alexander and Thissen, Roland and Schmidt, J{\"u}rgen and Spahn, Frank and Altobelli, Nicolas}, title = {Linear high resolution dust mass spectrometer for a mission to the Galilean satellites}, series = {Planetary and space science}, volume = {65}, journal = {Planetary and space science}, number = {1}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0032-0633}, doi = {10.1016/j.pss.2011.12.019}, pages = {10 -- 20}, year = {2012}, abstract = {The discovery of volcanic activity on Enceladus stands out amongst the long list of findings by the Cassini mission to Saturn. In particular the compositional analysis of Enceladus ice particles by Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyser (CDA) (Srama et al., 2004) has proven to be a powerful technique for obtaining information about processes below the moon's ice crust. Small amounts of sodium salts embedded in the particles' ice matrices provide direct evidence for a subsurface liquid water reservoir, which is, or has been, in contact with the moon's rocky core (Postberg et al., 2009, 2011b). Jupiter's Galilean satellites Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto are also believed to have subsurface oceans and are therefore prime targets for future NASA and ESA outer Solar System missions. The Galilean moons are engulfed in tenuous dust clouds consisting of tiny pieces of the moons' surfaces (Kruger et al., 1999), released by hypervelocity impacts of micrometeoroids, which steadily bombard the surfaces of the moons. In situ chemical analysis of these grains by a high resolution dust spectrometer will provide spatially resolved mapping of the surface composition of Europa. Ganymede, and Callisto, meeting key scientific objectives of the planned missions. However, novel high-resolution reflectron-type dust mass spectrometers (Sternovsky et al., 2007; Srama et al., 2007) developed for dust astronomy missions (Gran et al., 2009) are probably not robust enough to be operated in the energetic radiation environment of the inner Jovian system. In contrast, CDA's linear spectrometer is much less affected by harsh radiation conditions because its ion detector is not directly facing out into space. The instrument has been continuously operated on Cassini for 11 years. In this paper we investigate the possibility of operating a CDA-like instrument as a high resolution impact mass spectrometer. We show that such an instrument is capable of reliably identifying traces of organic and inorganic materials in the ice matrix of ejecta expected to be generated from the surfaces of the Galilean moons. These measurements are complementary, and in some cases superior, compared to other traditional techniques such as infrared remote sensing or in situ ion or neutral mass spectrometers.}, language = {en} } @article{HsuSchmidtKempfetal.2018, author = {Hsu, Hsiang-Wen and Schmidt, J{\"u}rgen and Kempf, Sascha and Postberg, Frank and Moragas-Klostermeyer, Georg and Seiss, Martin and Hoffmann, Holger and Burton, Marcia and Ye, ShengYi and Kurth, William S. and Horanyi, Mihaly and Khawaja, Nozair and Spahn, Frank and Schirdewahn, Daniel and Moore, Luke and Cuzzi, Jeff and Jones, Geraint H. and Srama, Ralf}, title = {In situ collection of dust grains falling from Saturn's rings into its atmosphere}, series = {Science}, volume = {362}, journal = {Science}, number = {6410}, publisher = {American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0036-8075}, doi = {10.1126/science.aat3185}, pages = {49 -- +}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Saturn's main rings are composed of >95\% water ice, and the nature of the remaining few percent has remained unclear. The Cassini spacecraft's traversals between Saturn and its innermost D ring allowed its cosmic dust analyzer (CDA) to collect material released from the main rings and to characterize the ring material infall into Saturn. We report the direct in situ detection of material from Saturn's dense rings by the CDA impact mass spectrometer. Most detected grains are a few tens of nanometers in size and dynamically associated with the previously inferred "ring rain." Silicate and water-ice grains were identified, in proportions that vary with latitude. Silicate grains constitute up to 30\% of infalling grains, a higher percentage than the bulk silicate content of the rings.}, language = {en} } @article{BurattiThomasRoussosetal.2019, author = {Buratti, Bonnie J. and Thomas, P. C. and Roussos, E. and Howett, Carly and Seiss, Martin and Hendrix, A. R. and Helfenstein, Paul and Brown, R. H. and Clark, R. N. and Denk, Tilmann and Filacchione, Gianrico and Hoffmann, Holger and Jones, Geraint H. and Khawaja, N. and Kollmann, Peter and Krupp, Norbert and Lunine, Jonathan and Momary, T. W. and Paranicas, Christopher and Postberg, Frank and Sachse, Manuel and Spahn, Frank and Spencer, John and Srama, Ralf and Albin, T. and Baines, K. H. and Ciarniello, Mauro and Economou, Thanasis and Hsu, Hsiang-Wen and Kempf, Sascha and Krimigis, Stamatios M. and Mitchell, Donald and Moragas-Klostermeyer, Georg and Nicholson, Philip D. and Porco, C. C. and Rosenberg, Heike and Simolka, Jonas and Soderblom, Laurence A.}, title = {Close Cassini flybys of Saturn's ring moons Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Pandora, and Epimetheus}, series = {Science}, volume = {364}, journal = {Science}, number = {6445}, publisher = {American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0036-8075}, doi = {10.1126/science.aat2349}, pages = {1053}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Saturn's main ring system is associated with a set of small moons that either are embedded within it or interact with the rings to alter their shape and composition. Five close flybys of the moons Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Pandora, and Epimetheus were performed between December 2016 and April 2017 during the ring-grazing orbits of the Cassini mission. Data on the moons' morphology, structure, particle environment, and composition were returned, along with images in the ultraviolet and thermal infrared. We find that the optical properties of the moons' surfaces are determined by two competing processes: contamination by a red material formed in Saturn's main ring system and accretion of bright icy particles or water vapor from volcanic plumes originating on the moon Enceladus.}, language = {en} }