Planetary Surfaces
The chemistry, mineralogy, and geology of a planetary surface bears testimony to its formation, evolution and internal structure.
This in turn provides essential information for understanding planet formation and the distinct evolutionary paths of individual objects, in particular for those from which there is no sample material on Earth. The “Planetary Surfaces” group uses spacecraft-based remote sensing and in-situ measurements to investigate the surface chemistry, mineralogy, and geology of a variety of planets, asteroids, and comets. To this end current research has been mainly focused on the dwarf planet Ceres, asteroid Vesta, and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which where visited by NASA’s Dawn mission and ESA’s Rosetta mission respectively. In addition, the research group is involved in ESA’s missions BepiColombo, which will reach Mercury in 2025, ExoMars, whose lander is scheduled to touch down on Mars in 2028, and EnVision, which will head for Venus starting in 2031.
