41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2010) 2670.

pdf

DEEP INTERIOR RADAR IMAGING OF E. Asphaug ( [email protected] )1 , A. Barucci 2 , M. Bel-

COMETS.
ton 3 , S. Bhaskaran 4 , D. Brownlee 5 , L. Carter 6 , J. Castillo 4 , S. Chesley 4 , P. Chodas 4 , T. Farnham 7 , R. Gaskell 8 , Y.
Gim 4 , E. Heggy 4 , K. Klaasen 4 , W. Kofman 9 , M. Kreslavsky 1 , C. Lisse 10 , L. McFadden 7 , E. Pettinelli 11 , J. Plaut 4 , D.
Scheeres 12 , E. Turtle 1 0 , P. Weissman 4 , R. Wu 1 . 1 Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz
CA 95064, 2 LESIA, Paris, France, 3 Belton Space Exploration Inc., Tucson AZ, 4
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech,
5 6 7
Pasadena CA, U. Washington, Seattle WA, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, U. Maryland, College Park
8 9 10
MD, Planetary Science Institute, Pasadena CA, CNRS, Grenoble, France, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns
11 12
Hopkins University, Laurel MD, U. Rome, Italy, U. Colorado, Boulder CO.

Summary: The Deep Interior mission is designed learn how comets work. We are presently refining a
to perform a comprehensive exploration of the interior, low-cost mission concept for a comet interior imager.
surface, and inner coma of 79P/du Toit-Hartley, a 3 km The primary data product is a 3D image of the geo-
diameter Jupiter family comet, at high spatial resolu- logic underpinnings, at better than 10 m scales glob-
tion. It will relate the structures found there to the ally, comparable in many respects to a medical ultra-
mode of formation of the nucleus, the history of its sonographic brightness scan. With
physical evolution, the geology of its surface, and the decameter scale radar imaging reso-
nature of its cometary activity. This shall be accom- lution, cometary structure can be
plished by an orbiting spacecraft capable of deep radar revealed to a detail comparable to
sounding, visible imaging, and imaging spectroscopy. that seen in this cartoon.
Radar heritage. Radar reflection deep space mis-
The next stage of comet exploration. The recon- sions now have high heritage thanks to the spectacu-
naissance stage of the exploration of cometary nuclei, larly successful Mars radar sounders, which have dis-
the most primitive of easily accessible solar system covered detailed secrets deep beneath the ice (e.g.[1 ,
bodies, is in full swing with successful missions to 2]). On Earth, ice penetrating radars (IPRs) have been
comets Halley, Borrelly, Wild 2 and Tempel 1, and mapping the ice thickness of glaciers and ice sheets in
missions in progress (EPOXI and Rosetta) to Hartley 2 Greenland and Antarctica. IPRs use a wide range of
and Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This reconnaissance frequencies, depending on target of interest. Very low
has so far yielded the discovery of an unanticipated frequencies, 2-5 MHz, are used to probe warm outlet
range of diversity in geomorphic forms: multiplicities glaciers with very rough surfaces while 60-150 MHz
of pits, craters with vertical overhangs, global scale systems map ice sheet thickness. On Mars two orbit-
layering, mesas and plains. It has also revealed new ing radar sounders have helped scientists discover lay-
geologic processes that are revolutionizing our con- ered ice deposits at Mars poles. MARSIS uses 1-5
cepts of the cometary interior – the discovery of repeti- MHz for deep penetration up to 3 km with a vertical
tive mini-outbursts, of patches of enhanced H resolution of 90 meters in ice while SHARAD (below
2 O ice,
and of caldera-like depressions and smooth-flows. The left) employs a higher frequency 15-25 MHz to
first comet sample return (Stardust) has shown the achieve a high vertical resolution of 9 meters to inves-
mineralogy to be an unexpected mixture, incorporating tigate ice deposits < 1.5 km.
highly refractory silicates from the inner solar system. Radar is thus a flight-heritaged technique capable
It is time to capitalize on these discoveries by mov- of directly imaging the interior of comets, providing a
ing into a new, detailed exploratory phase where we first insight to their geophysical properties by imaging
their structural, mechanical and compositional varia-
tions. Such information is crucial to understanding the
evolution of comets as well as the potential of hazard
migration associated to any potential collision with
other celestial bodies. There is no doubt that comets
are the first and best target for this experiment, owing
to our understanding of ice dielectric properties, and to
the rich science to be derived there. But the technique
shall in the future be applied to assess the geophysical
SHARAD reflection image of Mars North Polar Layered Deposits, properties of potentially hazardous NEOs.
~1000 km track ([2]). With average thickness of ~2-3 km and a cold ice-
rich composition analogous to comets, the NPLD provides an
Nominal mission. Our nominal mission launches
excellent
basis for mission design. For Deep Interior, SNR shall be 20-30 dB in 2016 to comet 79P/duToit-Hartley, an object which
greater due to proximity. Global illumination means that all signal in appears to have split in 1976, exposing some fraction
3D
contributes to advanced volumetric image
processing.
of its interior.
41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2010) 2670.pdf

shallow surface reconstructed by using 10 and 60 MHz

data sets. The comet image will be made using all the
downlinked data. The quality of the image will in-
crease with the accumulated radar data volume.
B-scan imaging: We use a ray-tracing approach to
a confined volume; this is analogous to a medical im-
Comets nuclei are the most primitive solar system bodies aging technique called B-scan imaging which is used
accessible by spacecraft. We now have the technology to to image human internal organs such as heart (ultra-
image their interiors at high resolution.
sonic cardio echogram), eyes, and liver. The resulting
image has a funnel shape as incident waves expand
Other than this splitting event, which let to the inside the body from the contact point with a probe
transient appearance of a companion comet, the past toward the intended target of organ. By combining
five perihelia have been quiet compared to other com- such 2D B-scan images taken around human body,
ets, making this an ideal target for low-risk rendezvous researchers are able to construct a 3D ultrasonic tomo-
operations. The diameter is known (~3 km) and its graphy image. Several other kinds of advanced image
low level of activity, and pre-perihelion observations processing can be done with the acquired data.
in 2013 shall provide more detailed information a few Complementary to Rosetta. Deep Interior is com-
years prior to launch, for mission optimization. plementary to the CONSERT experiment [5] which is
Comets are composed of major volatiles including a 90 MHz bistatic transmission experiment operating
water ice, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, plus for the duration of the Philae lander. Ours is a high
silicates. The state of these ices, either in the form of resolution imaging experiment, and is sensitive to con-
crystalline ices and clathrate hydrates, or gas-laden trasts, while CONSERT probes slow variations in di-
amorphous ice is debated. It is generally considered electric. Each shall yield information on the modes of
that cometary water ice is in amorphous form. How- formation and evolution of cometary nuclei.
ever, this hypothesis is challenged by models of water
condensation in the early Solar system (e.g., [3]). The
C o mpa ri so n B etw een R R I a nd RT T :
outer layer of the comet is expected to be a highly po- TX
R X/ TX

rous crust of refractory dust (e.g. [4]). Laboratory re- R X/T X RX/ T X

RX
search by our team for this study and for Rosetta are TX

ongoing, and while Deep Interior imaging is designed RX/ TX

to be highly robust to all eventualities, we may be able TX

R X/ TX

to learn compositions from our combined investiga- TX RX/ TX

tions, and relate this to the strategy for sample return. TX

TX
RX/ TX

Data product: The radar reflection imaging (RRI)

technique scans the comet’s global structure from or- • R ad io R e ect o n I mag ing (R R I) co lle cts
• R a dio Tr ans m is s io n To m ogr ap hy (R T T ) coll ect s dat a in t he

bit: closely sampled radar echoes, acquired from a d at a in t he tra ns m is sio n m ode ( C ONS ER T )
re e cti o n mo d e ( De ep Int er io r )

• T h is m ean s t he r ada r wave t hat is g ene r ate d by • T h e r ad ar w ave th at is gen er at ed by t he

nominal 5-10 km distance as the comet rotates under- t h e t r ans m it te r is r e ceived at t he o pp o sit e s ide
t r ans m it te r is r e ceive d at a t he s ame lo cat io n b y
t he r ad ar r ece iver ; t hu s , dat a is col lect ed fr o m all
neath, are processed to yield volumetric maps of me- o f th e ob ject , o r th r ou gh r e e ct ion s

• T h e info r m atio n gat he re d wit h a s in gle r ad ar

ar o un d th e c om et .

• T h e in fo r m atio n gat her e d i s th e

chanical and compositional boundaries, and to measure e cho i s th e to t al ti m e of tra v e l th r ou gh th e
c ontr as t
die l e ctr ic
info r m atio n wi th in th e o bj ect w ith
o b ject .

interior dielectric properties. To produce L1 data we as s o ciat ed t ime d elay.

• T h e re ceive d wave als o ind icat es t h e
a tt en uat io n.
• T im e co her e ncy be tw een t r ans m it te r and r ec eiver
will perform range compression on each data record • T h e RT T is
is re adily es t abli sh ed by co -lo cat io n.
inh er en tly lo w r e so lu tio n di ctat ed b y
• S NR of 60 d B, c apab le o f de tec tin g 5 % c on tr as t .
using a reference chirp or tone signal. When stacked b as ic p hys ica l pr in cip les o f th e t r ans m is s io n
m o de , bu t is m o re s en s itive t o s low v ar iatio n s. • T h e r e ceive d w ave als o ind icat es t he at te nu atio n .
together, bursts in L1 product will form a radargram • I f t he r ece iver
is s tat io nar y ( th e ca se fo r • T h e R R I s che m e p ro vid es m u ch high er r es o lu tio n
C ON SER T ) t he ob ject c an n o t be ins p ect ed im age s bu t is n ot as se ns it ive to s lo w var iat io ns .
along the path s/c flew over the comet, something f r om al l ang les , r es ult in g in bli nd s po ts in th e fi nal
• R R I im ages c on tr as t s an d re e cto r s , and is n o t as
i mage .

similar to MARSIS/SHARAD radargrams above. L2 s e ns it ive as RT T to gr ad ual var iat io n in d iele ctr ic .
• T hi s ty pe of tom og r ap hy wor ks w el l
• T he RR I s che m e wo rks we ll f or a ll
f or s ma l le r or tr a nspa re nt bodi e s a nd
will include the images of comet’s deep interior and d e te ct s s low v a ria ti ons in di e le ct ric
c om e ts a nd i s de si gne d to re v e a l d et a il e d
i m a ge s of cont ra sts a nd re e c tors

An injured eye,
imaged by ultra- References .
sonographic imag- [1] Picardi, G. et al , Science 310 , 1925, 2008
ing. The probe is to [2] Phillips, R. et al . Science 320 , 1182, 2008
the left. By moving
[3] Kouchi, A. and Sirono, S. , 28 , 827, 2001
around the object a
GRL, 258, 2005
[4] A’Hearn, et al ., Science 5746
3D volumetric im-
age can be obtained. [5] Kofman, W. et al. Ad. Spa. Res. 21 , 1589, 1998