Published in Astrobiology
The evolution of habitable conditions on Mars is often tied to the existence of aquatic habitats and largely constrained to the first billion years of the planet. Here, we propose an alternate, lasting evolutionary trajectory that assumes the colonization of land habitats before the end of the Hesperian period (ca. 3 billion years ago) at a pace si...
Published in Icarus
Several planetary satellites apparently have subsurface seas that are of great interest for, among other reasons, their possible habitability. The geologically diverse saturnian satellite Enceladus vigorously vents liquid water and vapor from fractures within a south polar depression and thus must have a liquid reservoir or active melting. However,...
Published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will provide unprecedented opportunities to observe the rings and small satellites in our Solar System, accomplishing three primary objectives:(1) discovering new rings and moons,(2) unprecedented spectroscopy, and (3) time-domain observations. We give details on these science objectives and describe requiremen...
Published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will enable a wealth of new scientific investigations in the near-and mid-infrared, with sensitivity and spatial/spectral resolution greatly surpassing its predecessors. In this paper, we focus upon Solar System science facilitated by JWST, discussing the most current information available concerning JWST instr...
Published in Genome announcements
Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2-1, isolated from the Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica, produces a purple-violet pigment, manifests diverse energy metabolism abilities, and tolerates cold, ultraviolet radiation, and other environmental stressors. We report here the 6.19-Mb draft genome of strain Ant5-2-1, which will help understand its survival mec...
Published in Icarus
Zumba is a∼ 2.9 km diameter rayed crater on Mars located on extensive lava plains in Daedalia Planum to the southwest of Arsia Mons. It is a well-preserved young crater with large ejecta rays that extend for hundreds of kilometers from the impact site. The rays are thermally distinct from the background lava flows in THEMIS daytime and nighttime th...
Published in Planetary and Space Science
Catastrophic floods of enormous proportions are thought to have played a major role in the excavation of some of the Solar System s largest channels; the circum-Chryse outflow channels. The generation of the floods has been attributed to both the evacuation of regional highland aquifers and ancient paleo-lakes. Numerous investigators indicate that ...
Published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provides the opportunity for ground- breaking observations of asteroids. It covers wavelength regions that are unavailable from the ground and does so with unprecedented sensitivity. The main belt and Trojan asteroids are all observable at some point in the JWST lifetime. We present an overview of the capabilit...
