Plasma-neutral gas interactions in various space environments: Assessment beyond simplified approximations as a Voyage 2050 themeUniversity of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Japan.
Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London, UK; Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; Hellenic Space Center, Athens, Greece.
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France.
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Swindon, UK; School of Space and Environment, BUAA, Beijing, China.
CNRS, University of Orléans and CNES, Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environment et de l’Espace, Orléans, France; CNRS, UCA, OCA, Lagrange, Nice, France.
Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA.
National Space Science Center (NSSC), Beijing, China.
Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.
Institute for Space Sciences (ISS), Bucharest, Romania.
Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), University College London, London, UK.
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
University of Köln, Köln, Germany.
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden.
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China.
University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA.
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA.
Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Sodankylä, Finland.
University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
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2022 (English)In: Experimental astronomy, ISSN 0922-6435, E-ISSN 1572-9508, Vol. 54, no 2-3, p. 521-559Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In the White Paper, submitted in response to the European Space Agency (ESA) Voyage 2050 Call, we present the importance of advancing our knowledge of plasma-neutral gas interactions, and of deepening our understanding of the partially ionized environments that are ubiquitous in the upper atmospheres of planets and moons, and elsewhere in space. In future space missions, the above task requires addressing the following fundamental questions: (A) How and by how much do plasma-neutral gas interactions influence the re-distribution of externally provided energy to the composing species? (B) How and by how much do plasma-neutral gas interactions contribute toward the growth of heavy complex molecules and biomolecules? Answering these questions is an absolute prerequisite for addressing the long-standing questions of atmospheric escape, the origin of biomolecules, and their role in the evolution of planets, moons, or comets, under the influence of energy sources in the form of electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation, because low-energy ion-neutral cross-sections in space cannot be reproduced quantitatively in laboratories for conditions of satisfying, particularly, (1) low-temperatures, (2) tenuous or strong gradients or layered media, and (3) in low-gravity plasma. Measurements with a minimum core instrument package (< 15 kg) can be used to perform such investigations in many different conditions and should be included in all deep-space missions. These investigations, if specific ranges of background parameters are considered, can also be pursued for Earth, Mars, and Venus.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature , 2022. Vol. 54, no 2-3, p. 521-559
Keywords [en]
Collision cross-section, Future missions, Low-energy, Neutral gas, Plasma, Voyage 2050
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-322586DOI: 10.1007/s10686-022-09846-9ISI: 000773961300001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85127328384OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-322586DiVA, id: diva2:1721713
Note
QC 20250610
2022-12-222022-12-222025-06-10Bibliographically approved