China’s first Mars exploration mission (HuoXing-1) has been named as ‘Tianwen-1’ meaning Heaven Inquiry. Tianwen-1 was launched on July 23, 2020. In this paper, the scientific objectives of earlier and current Mars exploration missions worldwide are reviewed, and the scientific objectives, payloads and preliminary scientific investigation plan of China’s first Mars exploration mission are introduced

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) is a robotic arm-mounted instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover. SHERLOC has two primary boresights. The Spectroscopy boresight generates spatially resolved chemical maps using fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy coupled to microscopic images (10.1 μm/pixel). The second boresight is a Wide Angle Topographic

The Ingenuity Helicopter will be deployed from the Perseverance Rover for a 30-sol experimental campaign shortly after the rover lands and is commissioned. We describe the helicopter and the associated Technology Demonstration experiment it will conduct, as well as its role in informing future helicopter missions to Mars. This helicopter will demonstrate, for the first time, autonomous controlled flight

Recent claimed detections of tidal disruption events (TDEs) in multi-wavelength data have opened potential new windows into the evolution and properties of otherwise dormant supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the centres of galaxies. At present, there are several dozen TDE candidates, which share some properties and differ in others. The range in properties is broad enough to overlap other transient

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-021-00821-y

The magnetometer instrument MPO-MAG on-board the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) of the BepiColombo mission en-route to Mercury is introduced, with its instrument design, its calibration and scientific targets. The instrument is comprised of two tri-axial fluxgate magnetometers mounted on a 2.9 m boom and are 0.8 m apart. They monitor the magnetic field with up to 128 Hz in a \(\pm 2048\) nT range

This manuscript represents a review on progress made over the past decade concerning our understanding of meteoroid bombardment on airless solar system bodies as one of the sources of the formation of their exospheres. Specifically, observations at Mercury by MESSENGER and at the Moon by LADEE, together with progress made in dynamical models of the meteoroid environment in the inner solar system, offer

NASA’s Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples

On the NASA 2020 rover mission to Jezero crater, the remote determination of the texture, mineralogy and chemistry of rocks is essential to quickly and thoroughly characterize an area and to optimize the selection of samples for return to Earth. As part of the Perseverance payload, SuperCam is a suite of five techniques that provide critical and complementary observations via Laser-Induced Breakdown

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-021-00828-5

Understanding the Earth’s geological nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycles is fundamental for assessing the distribution of these volatiles between solid Earth (core, mantle and crust), oceans and atmosphere. This Special Communication about the Earth’s N and C cycles contains material that is relevant for researchers who are interested in the Topical Collection on planetary evolution “Reading Terrestrial

This brief special communications article gives data for atomic abundances and mass fractions for the elemental and isotopic solar system composition, the atomic masses of the elements and their isotopes, the composition of the solar photosphere, and the compositions of the major chondritic meteorite groups. This additional material is relevant for researchers who are interested in this Topical Collection

Atmospheres in our solar system range from oxidizing to reducing, transient to dense, veiled by clouds and hazes to transparent. Observations already suggest that exoplanets exhibit an even more diverse range of atmospheric chemistry and composition. Nevertheless, there are commonalities across the atmospheres of our solar system that provide valuable guidance and lessons for observing and interpreting

The High-Resolution Imaging Camera (HiRIC) is one major payload of China’s first Mars exploration mission, and its main objective is to obtain the detailed observation images of the key areas on the Martian surface. In this paper, the leading group of HiRIC shows a full blueprint of the HiRIC. The HiRIC can achieve a high resolution (0.5 m at an altitude of 265 km) with a wide swath width of 9 km.

One of the major questions about magnetic reconnection is how specific solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field conditions influence where reconnection occurs at the Earth’s magnetopause. There are two reconnection scenarios discussed in the literature: a) anti-parallel reconnection and b) component reconnection. Early spacecraft observations were limited to the detection of accelerated ion beams

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are among the brightest transients in the optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray sky. These flares are set into motion when a star is torn apart by the tidal field of a massive black hole, triggering a chain of events which is – so far – incompletely understood. However, the disruption process has been studied extensively for almost half a century, and unlike the later stages

Our understanding of processes occurring in the heliosphere historically began with reduced dimensionality - one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) sketches and models, which aimed to illustrate views on large-scale structures in the solar wind. However, any reduced dimensionality vision of the heliosphere limits the possible interpretations of in-situ observations. Accounting for non-planar

Recent accumulation of a critical mass of observational material from different spacecraft complete with the enhanced abilities of numerical methods have led to a boom of studies revealing the high complexity of processes occurring in the heliosphere. Views on the solar wind filling the interplanetary medium have dramatically developed from the beginning of the space era. A 2-D picture of the freely

The Navigation and Terrain Cameras (NaTeCams) are binocular stereo cameras mounted on the Tianwen-1 Mars Rover. The NaTeCams are primarily designed to provide support for the guidance, navigation, and control of the rover, and they can also be used for scientific observations. NaTeCam is a color imaging system using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensor (APS). An overview

The accumulation of detailed ion flux measurements from long-lived spacecraft orbiting the solar system’s terrestrial planets have enabled recent studies to estimate the rate of solar wind driven atmospheric ion escape from Venus, Earth, and Mars, as well as the influence of solar wind and solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) ionizing radiation on the atmospheric ion escape rates. Here, we introduce the

Rapidly decaying long-period oscillations often occur in hot coronal loops of active regions associated with small (or micro-) flares. This kind of wave activity was first discovered with the SOHO/SUMER spectrometer from Doppler velocity measurements of hot emission lines, thus also often called “SUMER” oscillations. They were mainly interpreted as global (or fundamental mode) standing slow magnetoacoustic

China’s Chang’e-4 (CE-4) mission is the first human lander/rover mission on the far side of the Moon. Its probe is composed of a lander, rover, and the Queqiao relay satellite. Queqiao was successfully launched on May 21, 2018, and entered the halo orbit of the L2 point on June 14, becoming the first satellite connecting the Earth and the Moon’s far side. The lander carrying Yutu-2 was successfully

It is well known that the interaction between interplanetary (IP) shocks and the Earth’s magnetosphere would generate/excite various types of geomagnetic phenomena. Progresses have been made on the Earth’s magnetospheric response to solar wind forcing in recent years in the aspects associated with magnetospheric substorms. Strong substorms and super substorms could be triggered externally by sudden

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury was launched in October 2018. It includes two scientific Mercury orbiters, flying as a single stack during the seven years interplanetary transfer, and as individual spacecraft operated by their respective space Agencies ESA and JAXA once deployed in their respective scientific orbit around Mercury. Three ground segments are closely collaborating on this

In preparation for the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury, thematic working groups had been established for coordinating the activities within the BepiColombo Science Working Team in specific fields. Here we describe the scientific goals of the Geodesy and Geophysics Working Group (GGWG) that aims at addressing fundamental questions regarding Mercury’s internal structure and evolution. This multidisciplinary

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-021-00809-8

The NASA Perseverance rover Mast Camera Zoom (Mastcam-Z) system is a pair of zoomable, focusable, multi-spectral, and color charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras mounted on top of a 1.7 m Remote Sensing Mast, along with associated electronics and two calibration targets. The cameras contain identical optical assemblies that can range in focal length from 26 mm (\(25.5^{\circ }\, \times 19.1^{\circ }\

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-021-00801-2

The Mars Mineralogical Spectrometer (MMS) is a hyperspectral imager onboard the Mars orbiter of Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars exploration mission. MMS consists of 4 subassemblies: an Optical Sensor Unit (OSU), an Electronics Unit (EU), a Calibration Unit (CU), and a Thermal Control Accessories (TCA). With a 0.5 mrad IFOV and a 416-sample cell array for nadir observation, MMS can map the spectral and

The Mars radiation environment, both in past and at present, plays a vital role in the evolution of Martian atmosphere, so it is necessary to detect the background radiation environment both in the Martian atmosphere and the transfer orbit from Earth to Mars. The Tianwen-1 Energetic Particle Analyzer (EPA) is designed to measure and analyze the energetic charged particles emitted to the Martian atmosphere

The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) is the first European laser altimeter constructed for interplanetary flight. BELA uses a 50 mJ pulsed Nd:YAG laser operating at 10 Hz with a 20 cm aperture receiver to perform the ranging. The instrument also uses a digital approach for range detection and pulse analysis. The ranging accuracy is expected to be better than 2 metres and ∼20 cm in optimum conditions

Mastcam-Z is a multispectral, stereoscopic imaging investigation on the Mars 2020 mission’s Perseverance rover. Mastcam-Z consists of a pair of focusable, 4:1 zoomable cameras that provide broadband red/green/blue and narrowband 400-1000 nm color imaging with fields of view from 25.6° × 19.2° (26 mm focal length at 283 μrad/pixel) to 6.2° × 4.6° (110 mm focal length at 67.4 μrad/pixel). The cameras

The dual spacecraft mission BepiColombo is the first joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to explore the planet Mercury. BepiColombo was launched from Kourou (French Guiana) on October 20th, 2018, in its packed configuration including two spacecraft, a transfer module, and a sunshield. BepiColombo cruise trajectory is a long journey

The C-H-O-N-S elements that constitute the outgassed atmosphere and exosphere have likely been delivered by chondritic materials to the Earth during planetary accretion and subsequently processed over billions of years of planetary differentiation. Although these elements are generally considered to be volatile, a large part of the accreted C-H-O-N-S on Earth must have been sequestered in the core

Nine simulations are used to predict the meteorology and aeolian activity of the Mars 2020 landing site region. Predicted seasonal variations of pressure and surface and atmospheric temperature generally agree. Minimum and maximum pressure is predicted at \(\text{Ls}\sim 145^{\circ}\) and \(250^{\circ}\), respectively. Maximum and minimum surface and atmospheric temperature are predicted at \(\text{Ls}\sim

The Mercury Orbiter Radio Science Experiment (MORE) of the ESA mission BepiColombo will provide an accurate estimation of Mercury’s gravity field and rotational state, improved tests of general relativity, and a novel deep space navigation system. The key experimental setup entails a highly stable, multi-frequency radio link in X and Ka band, enabling two-way range rate measurements of 3 micron/s at

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00759-7

Small-scale dynamic auroras have spatial scales of a few km or less, and temporal scales of a few seconds or less, which visualize the complex interplay among charged particles, Alfvén waves, and plasma instabilities working in the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupled regions. We summarize the observed properties of flickering auroras, vortex motions, and filamentary structures. We also summarize the development

After a star has been tidally disrupted by a black hole, the debris forms an elongated stream. We start by studying the evolution of this gas before its bound part returns to the original stellar pericenter. While the axial motion is entirely ballistic, the transverse directions of the stream are usually thinner due to the confining effects of self-gravity. This basic picture may also be influenced

Rossby waves are a pervasive feature of the large-scale motions of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. These waves (also known as planetary waves and r-modes) also play an important role in the large-scale dynamics of different astrophysical objects such as the solar atmosphere and interior, astrophysical discs, rapidly rotating stars, planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres. This paper provides a review

Sulfur is the tenth most abundant element in the universe and is known to play a significant role in biological systems. Accordingly, in recent years there has been increased interest in the role of sulfur in astrochemical reactions and planetary geology and geochemistry. Among the many avenues of research currently being explored is the laboratory processing of astrophysical ice analogues. Such research

To date, a variety of different types of mass spectrometers have been utilized on missions to study the composition of atmospheres of solar system bodies, including Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Titan, the moon, and several comets. With the increasing interest in future small probe missions, mass spectrometers need to become even more versatile, lightweight, compact, and sensitive. For in situ exploration

The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric particle dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with solar wind, solar radiation, and interplanetary dust. The particle instrument suite SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances)

Accretion onto black holes is an efficient mechanism in converting the gas mass-energy into energetic outputs as radiation, wind and jet. Tidal disruption events, in which stars are tidally torn apart and then accreted onto supermassive black holes, offer unique opportunities of studying the accretion physics as well as the wind and jet launching physics across different accretion regimes. In this

MOXIE is a technology demonstration that addresses the Mars 2020 (Perseverance) objective of preparing for future human exploration by demonstrating In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) in the form of dissociating atmospheric CO2 into O2. The primary goals of the MOXIE project are to verify and validate the technology of Mars ISRU as a springboard for the future, and to establish achievable performance

Optical structures located equatorward of the main auroral oval often exhibit different morphologies and dynamics than structures at higher latitudes. In some cases, questions arise regarding the formation mechanisms of these photon-emitting phenomena. New developments in space and ground-based instruments have enabled us to acquire a clearer view of the processes playing a role in the formation of

China launched Tianwen-1 spacecraft successfully on July 23rd, 2020. The Mars Orbiter Subsurface Investigation Radar (MOSIR) is a subsurface radar sounder as a scientific instrument onboard Tianwen-1 orbiter. It is designed to study the compositions of Martian surface material, subsurface structure, and the ionosphere’s total electron content. It can also perform passive observations in a transfer

Here we discuss the current state of knowledge of terrestrial planet formation from the aspects of different planet formation models and isotopic data from 182Hf-182W, U-Pb, lithophile-siderophile elements, 48Ca/44Ca isotope samples from planetary building blocks, recent reproduction attempts from 36Ar/38Ar, 20Ne/22Ne, 36Ar/22Ne isotope ratios in Venus’ and Earth’s atmospheres, the expected solar 3He

Landing site selection is of fundamental importance for lunar landing mission and it is closely related to the scientific goals of the mission. According to the widely concerned lunar science goals and the landing site selection of the ongoing lunar missions; China has carried out the selection of landing site for a series of Chang’ E (CE) missions. Under this background, this paper firstly introduced

The comparative study of planetary systems is a unique source of new scientific insight: following the six “key science questions” of the “Planetary Exploration, Horizon 2061” long-term foresight exercise, it can reveal to us the diversity of their objects (Question 1) and of their architectures (Question 2), help us better understand their origins (Question 3) and how they work (Question 4), find

The Mars 2020 mission seeks to conduct a new scientific exploration on the surface of Mars. The Perseverance Rover will be sent to the surface of the Jezero Crater region to study its habitability, search for biosignatures of past life, acquire and cache samples for potential return, and prepare for possible human missions. To enable these objectives, an innovative Sampling and Caching Subsystem (SCS)

It is not yet entirely clear whether Mars began as a warm and wet planet that evolved towards the present-day cold and dry body or if it always was cold and dry with just some sporadic episodes of liquid water on its surface. An important clue into this question can be gained by studying the earliest evolution of the Martian atmosphere and whether it was dense and stable to maintain a warm and wet

The SuperCam instrument suite provides the Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, with a number of versatile remote-sensing techniques that can be used at long distance as well as within the robotic-arm workspace. These include laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), remote time-resolved Raman and luminescence spectroscopies, and visible and infrared (VISIR; separately referred to as VIS and IR) reflectance

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00780-w

The Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) and a nested simulation of the Mars Weather Research and Forecasting model (MarsWRF) are used to predict the local meteorological conditions at the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing site inside Jezero crater (Mars). These predictions are complemented with the COmplutense and MIchigan MArs Radiative Transfer model (COMIMART) and with the local

The basics of focused transport as applied to solar energetic particles are reviewed, paying special attention to areas of common misconception. The micro-physics of charged particles interacting with slab turbulence are investigated to illustrate the concept of pitch-angle scattering, where after the distribution function and focused transport equation are introduced as theoretical tools to describe

ISA (Italian Spring Accelerometer) is a high sensitivity accelerometer flying, as scientific payload, on-board one of the two spacecraft (the Mercury Planetary Orbiter) of BepiColombo, the first ESA mission to Mercury. The first commissioning phase (performed in the period November 2018 - August 2019) allowed to verify the functionality of the instrument itself as well as of the related data handling

An in-situ cosmic-dust instrument called the Mercury Dust Monitor (MDM) had been developed as a part of the science payload for the Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, MMO) stage of the joint European Space Agency (ESA)–JAXA Mercury-exploration mission. The BepiColombo spacecraft was successfully launched by an Ariane 5 rocket on October 20, 2018, and commissioning tests of the science payload were

Magnetic activity of stars like the Sun evolves in time because of spin-down owing to angular momentum removal by a magnetized stellar wind. These magnetic fields are generated by an internal dynamo driven by convection and differential rotation. Spin-down therefore converges at an age of about 700 Myr for solar-mass stars to values uniquely determined by the stellar mass and age. Before that time

The Mars 2020 mission will seek the signs of ancient life on Mars and will identify, prepare, document, and cache a set of samples for possible return to Earth by a follow-on mission. Mars 2020 and its Perseverance rover thus link and further two long-held goals in planetary science: a deep search for evidence of life in a habitable extraterrestrial environment, and the return of martian samples to