Starting Day 2 in the DART session. At #LPSC2022, there was so much talk about how cool DART was going to be. At #LPSC2023, there were so many pretty pix/early results of DART giving Dimorphos the old 1-2. Now at #LPSC2024 it’s on to the serious detective work of what DART found.

Wie die vier galileischen #Monde entstanden sind, untersuchte zuletzt ein #US-Forschungsteam. Die Ergebnisse wurden auf der 54. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference vorgestellt. @spacerick hat sie zusammengefasst.
#LPSC2023 #Jupiter
https://www.riffreporter.de/de/wissen/studie-wie-jupiter-seine-monde-formte-ganymed-callisto-europa-und-io

Just want to say my #LPSC2023 presentation look came together *extremely* well, it's one of the first times I can say that I have been extremely happy with how I'm dressed for public engagement.

It was my pleasure to speak about MARDI sidewalk movies at #LPSC2023 this week. I think they're proving to be a valuable tool for stratigraphic documentation in Gale Crater, and with luck we'll be collecting more in the future.

#TeamRadar
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RT @MartinHajovsky
Rivera-Valentín (@PlanetTreky): On Mercury we're likely looking at pure ice than can be modeled with possible ice+ silicate grains. At Moon, inferred values likely vary from scattering primarily from ice to backscatter from ice + silicate grains + porosity
#LPSC2023 #LPSCMercury
https://twitter.com/MartinHajovsky/status/1636737985159786498

This week the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference #LPSC2023 is happening near Houston. It's the reason the data release is timed for mid-March, giving #Curiosity team members free rein to talk about the most recent data possible. I searched the abstracts there for the Canaima drill target, and found this one that tells me the mission considers sols 3052 to 3572 to have been spent in the clay-sulfate transition region. (PDF at link) https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/1662.pdf

Alyssa Rhoden at #LPSC2023: cryovolcanusm on Pluto's moon Charon.

Idea is that freezing ocean cracked Charon ice shell, and then caused cryovolcanic bloops.

So they modeled it up. (Recently published)

They added ammonia. Not sure if ammonia is there or not. But it affects temperature of freezing (makes it lower).

Makng Fractures is easy, but...making eruptions is hard. (10 km thick or thinner for a through fracture.)

Link to abstract: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/2941.pdf

Julie Castillo-Rogez at #LPSC2023:

Looking at evolution of Uranian moons. Clathrate hydrates of CO2 don't form because any CO2 goes into carbonates.

Miranda may not have a deep ocean... but maybe it is there? Worth a look!

General pattern:
Differentiation-->Hydrosphere Freezing-->Thermal metamorphism-->Resonance Melting->Freezing to Present time

Conclusion: Relict oceans. Unless tidal heating for Miranda.

Link to abstract: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/1808.pdf

Tara Tomlinson et al. Permeability and porosity of ice. At #LPSC2023.

Mushy zones in ice. How to nutrients and salts get formed and connected during ice Freetown?

(Y'all know I'm all into this for #astrobiology. This sets #microhabitats scale in #DeepIce.)

Modeled, and compared with lab grown sea ice.

Abstract: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/1998.pdf

Henry Dawson presenting on tectonic activity potential of Europa or Enceladus seafloor at #LPSC2023.

(Points from me for mentioning getting trace metals for catalytic enzymes into potential biosphere for #astrobiology, just a passing mention, but got me all happy.)

Can tides fracture sea floor?

Calculation path: Pressure to porosity to cohesion (rock stronger under compression than tension).
...More math.

Answer: Tidal forces not enough.
More optios..see abstract: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/2822.pdf

Zhimeng Zhang: #LPSC2023 Juno spacecraft microwave observations of Jupiter satellites.

For Ganymede microwave brightness temperature correlates with optical. (Anticorrelated)

Microwave probes deep. So this tells you that something at depth is driving surface optical stuff.

(Ganymede's beauty is not just skin deep (my interpretation)

Thorsten Kleine presenting meteorite-based work at #LPSC2023 showing that Mars got almost all of its volatiles from the inner solar system -- far less than even Earth, which got some from the outer solar system.

That's weird! You'd expect the two planets to be more similar in how they got their volatiles. You can see the new paper here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523000969

For background, my story on the origin of Earth's volatiles from earlier this year:

https://www.science.org/content/article/earthlike-planets-should-readily-form-around-other-stars-meteorites-suggest

Thursday commute to #lpsc2023 required a little musical motivation.

P-band and S-band radar observations with @AreciboRadar and @GreenBankObserv.

X-band radar observations with Mini-RF on @LRO_NASA and the Goldstone Solar System Radar.
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RT @planetarysci
Busy day for our team at #LPSC2023 today, so let's get started!

First up, Gareth Morgan will give a talk entitled, "Volcanic History of Mare Crisium: A Multiwavelength Radar Perspective" in Ballroom 1 at 8:55 am. Abstract: https://buff.ly/3ZPRlCV …
https://twitter.com/planetarysci/status/1636359243744854018

The real questions we should have been asking at NASA night https://xkcd.com/2750/ #LPSC2023

Lauren Schurmeier at #lpsc2023, presenting on Titan crater relaxation.

Craters on Titan are really shallow. Why?

Lauren modeled it up. If there is methane clathrate in the crust, it is stiffer, but insulates. Changes heat flux, so crust gets warmer and now the crater RELAXES. (Bluuuuhhhhp. Make appropriate fun-noise here). Becomes shallow. Happens fast, maybe within first 5-10 million years post-impact.

Why is this important for #astrobiology ?

(Next post)

This is one weird meteorite.
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RT @TheEarthStory
Next up is @cb_agee talking about Sebkha el Melah 001, an aubrite meteorite with simply enormous crystals of enstatite in them. Take a look: #LPSC2023

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/2810.pdf
https://twitter.com/TheEarthStory/status/1636093211117486083

#LPSC2023: Xander Thelen. Looking at Europa thermal data using ALMA.

They see cold thermal anamolies (colder than expected) in areas with higher pure water ice composition. Especially notable at Pwyll crater.

(That's the big splatty crater on Europa.) Small crater, but big splat, so maybe relatively fresh.

RT @peterbjames: WOW, Robbie Herrick found the first direct evidence for active volcanic eruption on Venus between Magellan Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 radar imagery. A massive caldera changed shape and produced a new lava flow north of Maat Mons. #LPSC2023

Wow! Becker et al presented an image of Euopa at #LPSC2023 taken by stellar reference unit. Took a picture of "boring ridged plains"not very well imaged.

Super detailed imaging shows lotsa cool stuff! Chaos, concentric fractures (collapse) and cycloids.

((And super proud of Meghan Florence, a former intern, who is a coauthor of this work))

This detailed structure of that chaos seems consistent with a melt-lens model for chaos formation. Not only way, but is pointing way for future work.