: Pamela Elizabeth Clark
: Dynamic Planet Mercury in the Context of its Environment
: Springer-Verlag
: 9780387482149
: 1
: CHF 132.60
:
: Astronomie
: English
: 220
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF

This book views Mercury as a whole in the context of its environment. It illustrates what we know and what we need to know, and why understanding Mercury is so crucial to our understanding of solar system origin and current processes on Earth. The book describes our current state of knowledge for Mercury and interactions between interior, exterior, and space environment which are highly dynamic and thus critical to understanding Mercury as a system.



Pamela Clark grew up in New England and, inspired by President John Kennedy, decided she wanted to explore outer space by the time she was thirteen years old. She was encouraged by several teachers, including her sixth grade teacher, Ed Vandall, and high school biology teacher, Robert Blake, as well as by Werner von Braun. She thought, 'If they can put a man on the moon, they can put a woman (me) on Mars!' So, she left home to seek her fortune in the space program. She obtained her BA from St. Joseph College, a tiny Catholic women's college run by the Sisters of Mercy in West Hartford, Connecticut. There, she had many opportunities to participate in laboratory research with Sr. Chlorophyll (Dr. Claire Markham) and Sr. Moon Rock (Dr. Mary Ellen Murphy) and to coordinate an NSF inter-disciplinary undergraduate field research project. While obtaining her PhD in planetary geochemistry from the University of Maryland, she worked at GSFC/NASA outside of Washington DC and the Astrogeology Branch of the USGS in Flagstaff, Arizona, simulating, analyzing, correlating, and interpreting lunar X-ray spectra. She was a member of the group, led by Isidore Adler and Jack Trombka, that pioneered the use of orbital x-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers to determine the composition of planetary surfaces. She participated in the Flagstaff Lunar Data Consortium, the first attempt to create a common format for all remote sensing data for a planetary body. After completing her PhD, she joined the technical staff at NASA/JPL outside of Los Angeles for awhile, working with the Ray Jurgens of the Goldstone Solar System Radar group, and expanding her remote sensing background to include radar and thermal and near infrared studies of planetary surfaces with particular emphasis on the study of the physical nature of Mercury's surface. Dr. Clark helped to organize a consortium of scientists interested in Mercury and edits the Mercury Messenger newsletter. She eventually returned Goddard as a member of the XGRS team on the NEAR mission to asteroid Eros. Currently, as a member of the sciences and exploration division at GSFC, Dr. Clark is the science lead in a group initiated by Steve Curtis to develop new paradigms for the design of space missions and vehicles. She provides science support for the Magnetosphere Multi-Scale Mission, and continues to study the Moon, asteroids, and Mercury. Dr. Clark has done several stints in academic institutions, including Murray State University in Kentucky, Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Catholic University in Washington DC. She has developed courses in analytical and environmental chemistry, geochemistry, physical geology, mineralogy, optics, planetary astronomy, remote sensing, and physics. A space scientist by day, Dr. Clark is otherwise engaged in prison ministry, or in writing about or giving workshops in her wide-ranging fields of interest, including oral and local history, genealogy, Irish history, Celtic spirituality, herb gardening, and cooking. One of her major goals in life is to increase the awareness and the sense of wonder about the planet Mercury.

Information about her work can be found at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publi ations/newsletters/mercmessen er/

or http://ants.gsfc.nasa.gov

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CONTENTS8
LIST OF FIGURES12
LIST OF TABLES15
Chapter 1 MERCURY FROM A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE16
1.1 MERCURY IN CONTEXT16
1.2 PHYSICAL AND ORBITAL MEASUREMENTS16
1.3 DIFFICULTIES AND ANOMALIES UNCOVERED IN OBSERVING MERCURY17
1.4 A PLANET AS A SYSTEM OF SUBSYSTEMS21
1.5 TYPES OF SYSTEMS21
1.6 IN THE BEGINNING: SOLAR NEBULA SYSTEM FOR PLANET FORMATION23
1.7 INTERIOR AND SURFACE FORMATION: SOURCES, SINKS, PROCESSES27
1.8 ATMOSPHERE FORMATION: SOURCES, SINKS, AND PROCESSES29
1.9 MAGNETOSPHERE FORMATION: SOURCES, SINKS, AND PROCESSES30
1.10 SUMMARY32
1.11 REFERENCES32
1.12 SOME QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION34
Chapter 2 PAST AND PLANNED MISSIONS TO MERCURY35
2.1 NASA’S SUCCESSFUL MARINER 10 MISSION TO MERCURY35
2.2 THE MARINER 10 SPACECRAFT37
2.3 THE MARINER 10 SCIENTIFIC PAYLOAD39
2.4 OVERVIEW OF MARINER 10 OBSERVATIONS39
2.5 MARINER 10 MISSION OBJECTIVES41
2.6 NASA’S ONGOING MESSENGER MISSION41
2.7 THE MESSENGER SPACECRAFT AND PAYLOAD43
2.8 THE MESSENGER MISSION OBJECTIVES45
2.9 THE ESA/ISAS PLANNED BEPI COLOMBO MISSION45
2.10 THE BEPI COLOMBO SPACECRAFT AND PAYLOAD47
2.11 THE BEPI COLOMBO MISSION OBJECTIVES48
2.12 SUMMARY50
2.13 REFERENCES50
2.14 SOME QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION51
Chapter 3 MERCURY’S INTERIOR52
3.1 PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF MERCURY’S INTERIOR52
3.2 BULK PROPERTIES52
3.3 MAGNETIC FIELD AND CORE FORMATION53
3.4 STRUCTURE OF MERCURY’S CORE55
3.5 SHAPE, GRAVITY FIELD, AND INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF MERCURY59
3.6 SEARCH FOR A LIQUID CORE/SHELL60
3.7 SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION61
3.8 EQUILIBRIUM CONDENSATION MODEL61
3.9 MERCURY’S HIGH BULK ABUNDANCE OF IRON64
3.10 DIRECT ACCRETION OF REDUCED COMPONENTS64
3.11 THE SELECTIVE ACCRETION MODEL65
3.12 POST-ACCRETION VAPORIZATION AND GIANT IMPACT MODELS66
3.13 INFALL OF COMETARY/ASTEROID MATERIALS68
3.14 DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN THE MODELS68
3.15 SUMMARY70
3.16 REFERENCES71
3.17 SOME QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION75
Chapter 4 MERCURY’S SURFACE76
4.1 PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF MERCURY’S SURFACE76
4.2 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SURFACE AND REGOLITH80
4.3 COMPOSITION OF MERCURY’S SURFACE AND REGOLITH83
4.4 SPACE WEATHERING AS A REGOLITH MODIFICATION PROCESS91
4.5 THE NATURE AND COMPOSITION OF MAJOR TERRANES92
4.6 CONCISE SUMMARY OF MERCURY’S GEOLOGICAL HISTORY96
4.7 IMPACT ACTIVITY AND CHRONOLOGY98
4.8 VOLCANISM104
4.9 TECTONIC ACTIVITY106
4.10 POLAR FEATURES111
4.11 SUMMARY114
4.12 REFERENCES115
4.13 SOME QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION121
Chapter 5 MERCURY’S EXOSPHERE122
5.1 THE EXOSPHERE CONCEPT122
5.2 FROM ATMOSPHERE TO EXOSPHERE122
5.3 MARINER 10 OBSERVATIONS123