First results of the HssO key programme

Paul Hartogh , Jacques Crovisier (1) , Emmanuel Lelloch , Dominique Bockelée-Morvan (1) , Bruce Swinyard , Christopher Jarchow , Raphael Moreno (1) , Nicolas Biver (1) , Maria Blecka , T. Cavalié (2, 3, 4, 5) , Miguel de Val-Borro , Martin Emprechtinger , Helmut Feuchtgruber , Trevor Fulton , Emmanuül Jehin , Dariusz C. Lis , Glenn Orton , Miriam Rengel , Hideo Sagawa , Sunil Sidher , Slawomira Szutowicz (6) , Bart Vandenbussche , Christoffel Waelkens , Marek Banaszkiewicz (6) , Frank Bensch , Ted Bergin , Geoff Blake , Joris Blommaert , José Cernicharo (7, 8) , Leen Decin , Thijs de Graauw , Pierre Encrenaz (9) , Therese Encrenaz (1) , Mark Kidger , Michael Küppers (10) , Luisa M. Lara , Alexander Medvedev , David Naylor , Ganna Portyankina , Rudolph Schieder , Daphne Stam (11) , Nicolas Thomas (12) , F. Billebaud (2, 3, 4, 5) , Régis Courtin (13) , Gary Davis , Armando Gonzalez , Damien Hutsemekers , Arno de Lange , Sarah Leeks , Rosario Lorente , Jean Manfroid , Miguel Sánchez-Portal , Eva Verdugo , Helen Walker

1 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 L3AB - Laboratoire d'astrodynamique, d'astrophysique et d'aéronomie de bordeaux
3 OASU - Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers
4 UB - Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1
5 LAB - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac]
6 CBK - Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences
7 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
8 CSIC - Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas
9 LERMA - Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique
10 MPS - Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung = Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
11 SRON - SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
12 Physikalisches Institut [Bern]
13 LESIA-INSA - Laboratoire d'Étude des Systèmes Informatiques et Automatiques

The HssO (Herschel solar system Observations) program aims at determining the distribution, the evolution and the origin of water in Mars, the Outer Planets, Titan, Enceladus and comets, using the three Herschel instruments HIFI, PACS and SPIRE. It addresses the broad topic of water and its isotopologues in planetary and cometary atmospheres. The nature of cometary activity and the thermodynamics of cometary comae will be investigated by studying water excitation in a sample of comets. The D/H ratio, the key parameter for constraining the origin and evolution of Solar System materials, will be measured for the first time in a Jupiter family comet. A comparison with existing and new measurements of D/H in Oort cloud comets will constrain the composition of pre-solar cometary grains and possibly the dynamics of the protosolar nebula. New measurements of D/H in Giant Planets, similarly constraining the composition of proto-planetary ices, will be obtained. The D/H and other isotopic ratios, diagnostics of the evolution of Mars atmosphere, will be accurately measured in H2O and CO. The role of water vapour in the atmospheric chemistry of Mars will be studied by monitoring vertical profiles of H2O and HDO and by searching for several other species (including CO and H2O isotopologues). A detailed study of the source of water in the upper atmosphere of the Giant Planets and Titan will be performed. By monitoring the water abundance, vertical profile, and input fluxes in the various objects, and when possible with the help of mapping observations, we will discriminate between the possible sources of water in the Outer Planets (interplanetary dust particles, cometary impacts, and local sources). First results on comets, Mars and the outer planets will be presented.

Domains: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]

Paul Hartogh, Jacques Crovisier, Emmanuel Lelloch, Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, Bruce Swinyard, et al.. First results of the HssO key programme. 38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 18-15 July 2010, in Bremen, Germany, p.2, 2010, Jul 2010, Bremen, Germany. ⟨hal-00570326⟩