Journal Article

Volatiles and Refractories in Surface-Bounded Exospheres in the Inner Solar System

Teolis, Benjamin D., Sarantos, Menelaos, Leblanc, François, Tucker, Orenthal J., Benna, Mehdi, Nishino, Masaki N., Raines, Jim M., Grava, Cesare, Halekas, Jasper S., Jr, Ronald J. Vervack, Berezhnoy, Alexey A., Killen, Rosemary M., Plainaki, Christina, Vorburger, Audrey

2021

Overview

Volatiles and refractories represent the two end-members in the volatility range of species in any surface-bounded exosphere. Volatiles include elements that do not interact strongly with the surface, such as neon (detected on the Moon) and helium (detected both on the Moon and at Mercury), but also argon, a noble gas (detected on the Moon) that surprisingly adsorbs at the cold lunar nighttime surface. Refractories include species such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminum, all of which have very strong bonds with the lunar surface and thus need energetic processes to be ejected into the exosphere. Here we focus on the properties of species that have been detected in the exospheres of inner Solar System bodies, specifically the Moon and Mercury, and how they provide important information to understand source and loss processes of these exospheres, as well as their dependence on variations in external drivers.

• Publisher: Springer,Springer Netherlands,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag
• Subject: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics / Aluminous refractories / Aluminum / Argon / Astrophysics / Astrophysics and Astroparticles / Bonding strength / Exobiology / Exosphere / Helium / Inner solar system / Lunar surface / Magnesium / Mercury / Mercury (planet) / Moon / Neon / Physics / Physics and Astronomy / Planetology / Rare gases / Sciences of the Universe / Solar system / Space Exploration and Astronautics / Space Sciences (General) / Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics / Surface-Bounded Exospheres and Interactions in the Inner Solar System / Volatile compounds