Planetary Science and Technology

这一建议涵盖了广泛的协调研究和技术开发，旨在提高我们对太阳系中行星体大气层和表面的演变、相互作用和当前行为的了解。这种理解允许行星和地球之间的相互比较，这将加强我们对我们自己的星球及其气候的了解。最近的技术发展集中在辐射计和光谱仪的小型化上，这些仪器现在已经成熟，我们正将注意力转向通过开发冷却技术来提高测量灵敏度，以使我们能够使用更灵敏的探测器。这是我们过去取得成功的一个领域，但我们现在需要适合行星任务的质量更低、寿命更长的设备。去年发射的Diviner月球辐射计现在正在返回详细的月球表面热红外地图，这是第一次测量月球温度的全范围(&gt；400K到&lt；50K)。然而，要将测量到的温度变化与表面3D热模型得出的温度变化相匹配，需要在尽可能接近月球的条件下对矿物进行详细的实验室测量。特别需要两组新的实验室数据，矿物热发射光谱和矿物和混合物的光散射性质的测量。卡西尼号航天器上的CIRS仪器继续返回对土星卫星表面的出色观测，我们建议利用这些观测来研究通过这些表面的内生热流和表面组成，以确定这些天体如何相互作用。特别是，这些测量将有助于限制导致土卫二南极间歇泉的可能机制，以及这些机制是否意味着液态水的存在。卡西尼号对土星和土卫六大气层的CIRS观测极大地提高了我们对这些世界的理解。在过去的15年里，它们的北极地区一直处于黑暗之中，但阳光已经回来，预计这两个国家的大气环流模式将发生戏剧性和快速的变化。在这个季节，从地球上很难看到这些高极地区，所以卡西尼号提供了一个独特的环侧座位来观察预期的迷人变化，这将被用来约束这些大气的动力学模型。我们建议对天王星和海王星进行新的地面观测，以跟踪季节变化，特别是天王星，它在2007年通过了北半球的春分。此外，我们计划继续我们对木星和土星的观测计划，以更好地了解瞬变变化，旋涡的相互作用，并为我们的卡西尼号CIRS土星观测提供背景信息。我们最近开发了气态巨型行星的模型，基于英国气象局的地球气候模型，可以模拟木星和土星上云层中的大气循环，包括直接表示云的形成和运输。这些模式将扩展到全球覆盖范围，以研究纬向带状急流和云团自发形成的非线性湍流机制。这些将形成迄今为止获得的对这些大气层的一些最真实的模拟，并将通过与上面讨论的卡西尼号CIRS的观测进行直接比较来进行评估。我们计划在巴黎和开放大学的合作者的帮助下，升级我们的火星气候模型，以改善尘埃扬起和输送、水文循环和地下挥发性水库的表现，以便能够研究连接这些循环的过程。我们还将提供来自火星全球勘测者任务的最新完成的火星天气同化记录，并使用火星勘测轨道器的数据扩展这一记录。

This proposal covers a wide range of coordinated research and technology development aimed at improving our understanding of the evolution, interaction and the current behaviour of the atmospheres and surfaces of planetary bodies in the solar system. This understanding permits an intercomparison between the planets and the Earth that will enhance our understanding of our own planet and its climate. Recent technology developments have concentrated on miniaturisation of radiometers and spectrometers which are now mature and we are turning our attention towards improving the measurement sensitivity by developing cooling technologies to allow us to use more sensitive detectors. This is an area where we have had success in the past but we now need lower mass long-life devices suitable for planetary missions. The Diviner Lunar Radiometer, launched last year, is now returning detailed thermal infrared maps of the lunar surface for the first time measuring the full range of lunar temperatures (>400K to <50K). However, matching the measured temperature variations to those derived by 3D thermal models of the surfaces requires detailed laboratory measurements to be made of minerals under conditions that are as lunar like as possible. Two new sets of lab data in particular are needed, mineral thermal emission spectra and measurements of the light scattering properties of minerals and mixtures. The CIRS instrument on the Cassini spacecraft continues to return excellent observations of the surfaces of Saturn's moons and we propose to use these observations to investigate the endogenic heat flow through these surfaces and the surface composition to determine how these bodies interact. In particular these measurements will help constrain the possible mechanisms causing the geyser seen at Enceladus' south pole, and whether these imply the presence of liquid water. Cassini CIRS observations of the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan have greatly improved our understanding of these worlds. Their north polar regions have been in darkness for the last 15 years, but sunlight has returned and dramatic and rapid changes are expected in the atmospheric circulation patterns of both. These high polar regions are very difficult to view from the Earth at this season so Cassini offers a unique, ringside seat to observe the expected fascinating changes, which will be used to constrain dynamical models of these atmospheres. We propose to make new ground-based observations of Uranus and Neptune to track seasonal changes, especially on Uranus, which passed through its northern spring equinox in 2007. In addition, we plan to continue our programme of observations of Jupiter and Saturn to understand better transient changes, the interaction of eddies and provide contextual information for our Cassini CIRS Saturn observations. We have recently developed models for the gas giant planets, based on the UK Met Office climate model for Earth, that can simulate the atmospheric circulation in the cloudy 'weather layers' on both Jupiter and Saturn, including direct representations of cloud formation and transport. These models will be extended to global coverage to investigate nonlinear turbulent mechanisms for the spontaneous formation of zonally banded jets and clouds. These will form some of the most realistic simulations of these atmospheres so far obtained, and will be evaluated by direct comparisons with the observations discussed above from Cassini CIRS. We plan to upgrade our Mars climate model with the help of our collaborators in Paris and the Open University to improve the representation of dust lifting and transport, the hydrological cycle and sub-surface volatile reservoirs to enable processes linking these cycles to be investigated. We will also make available a newly completed assimilated record of Mars weather from the Mars Global Surveyor mission and extend this record using data from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.