Planetary components

The miniaturized Mossbauer instruments have proven as part of the NASA Mars Exploration Rover 2003 mission that Mossbauer spectroscopy is a powerful tool for planetary exploration, including our planet Earth. For the advanced model of MIMOS II, the new detector technologies and electronic components increase sensitivity and performance significantly. In combination with the high-energy resolution of the SDD, it will be possible to perform XRF analysis in parallel to Mossbauer spectroscopy. In addition to the Fe-mineralogy, information on the sample s elemental composition will be obtained. 

The Planetary Energy Balance [3] of Incoming Solar (340 W/m2) minus Reflected (101 W/m2) minus Radiated (238 W/m2) = 1 W/m2. This excess energy warms the oceans and melts glaciers and ice sheets. The GHG component is 2 W/m2. The amount of heat required to melt enough ice to raise sea level 1 m is about 12 Watt-years (averaged over the planet)—energy that could be accumulated in 12 years if the planet is out of balance by 1 W/m2 per year. 

For many years, meteorites have provided the only means to determine the abundance of 3He in protosolar material. The values obtained by mass spectroscopy techniques in the so-called planetary component of gas-rich meteorites have been critically examined by Geiss (1993) and Galli et al. (1995). The latter recommend the value 3He/4He= (1.5 0.1) x 10-4. The meteoritic value has been confirmed by in situ measurement of the He isotopic ratio in the atmosphere of Jupiter by the Galileo Probe Mass Spectrometer. The isotopic ratio obtained in this way, 3He/4He= (1.66 0.04) x 10 4 (Mahaffy et al. 1998), is slightly larger than, but consistent with, the ratio measured in meteorites, reflecting possible fractionation in the protosolar gas in favor of the the heavier isotope, or differential depletion in Jupiter s atmosphere. 

PVC spread-coating pastes are normally manufactured in high-speed planetary mixers that can be evacuated. It is best to add the plasticizer first, stir in the pigments or pigment pastes and only then to add the solid components in portions. In pigmenting plasticized PVC compounds, on the other hand, it is necessary to mix... 

One striking exception was the very early discovery of I decay to Xe (Jeffery and Reynolds 1961). This discovery reflects the particular properties of rare gases which are nearly absent in telluric planetary bodies. Because they are not diluted by high abrmdances of isotopically normal noble gases, anomalies in rare noble gas components were the first to be detected. This is also the reason for the Xe record of the fission of Pu (Rowe and Kuroda 1965). From the available data on short-lived nuclides at that time, it was concluded that the last nucleosynthetic input into the protosolar cloud predated the formation of the planets by 100-200 Ma. 

Extraterrestrial materials consist of samples from the Moon, Mars, and a variety of smaller bodies such as asteroids and comets. These planetary samples have been used to deduce the evolution of our solar system. A major difference between extraterrestrial and terrestrial materials is the existence of primordial isotopic heterogeneities in the early solar system. These heterogeneities are not observed on the Earth or on the Moon, because they have become obliterated during high-temperature processes over geologic time. In primitive meteorites, however, components that acquired their isotopic compositions through interaction with constituents of the solar nebula have remained unchanged since that time. 

The yield table thus serves as a basis for modelling the chemical evolution of our Galaxy, or any other galaxy. Three distinct components must be specified the yields of massive stars (8-100 Mq), which become type II supernovas, those of intermediate-mass stars (1-8 Mq), which blossom into planetary nebulas, and finally, those of overfed white dwarfs, which give birth to type la supernovas. 

Elemental oxygen also is present in the sun in less than 1% mass composition, as a fusion product of carbon-12, and hehum-4. No planet or its moon in the solar system, other than the earth is known to contain molecular oxygen in its atmosphere, although CO2 is a major component of many planetary... 

Clayton, R. N., Onuma, N., Grossman, L. and Mayeda, T. K. (1977) Distribution of the presolar component in Allende and other carbonaceous chondrites. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 34, 209-224. 

Noble gases are most abundant in planetary atmospheres, although even there they are only minor components. They have been measured in the gas envelopes of Venus, Earth (of course), Mars, and Jupiter. We will consider their utility in understanding planetary differentiation and atmospheric evolution shortly, but first we will focus on their rather miniscule abundances in meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials. 

Table 10.2 Trapped planetary noble gas components in meteorites ...

Cosmochemislry places important constraints on models for the origin of the solar nebula and the formation and evolution of planets. We explore nebula constraints by defining the thermal conditions under which meteorite components formed and examine the isotopic evidence for interaction of the nebula with the ISM and a nearby supernova. We consider how planetary bulk compositions are estimated and how they are used to understand the formation of the terrestrial and giant planets from nebular materials. We review the differentiation of planets, focusing especially on the Earth. We also consider how orbital and collisional evolution has redistributed materials formed in different thermal and compositional regimes within the solar system. 

We emphasize the line shape problem perhaps a little more than usual in the spectroscopic literature. Collision-induced spectra have little structure. Yet, the diffuse line and band spectra extend over wide frequency bands and must often be subtracted, say from the complex spectra of planetary or stellar atmospheres, for a more detailed analysis of other, less well known components. The subtraction requires accurate knowledge of the profile and its variation with temperature, composition, etc., often over frequency bands of hundreds of cm-1. 

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