From Disks to Planets: The Making of Planets and Their Early Atmospheres. An Introduction

This paper is an introduction to volume 56 of the Space Science Series of ISSI, “From disks to planets—the making of planets and their proto-atmospheres”, a key subject in our quest for the origins and evolutionary paths of planets, and for the causes of their diversity. Indeed, as exoplanet discoveries progressively accumulated and their characterization made spectacular progress, it became evident that the diversity of observed exoplanets can in no way be reduced to the two classes of planets that we are used to identify in the solar system, namely terrestrial planets and gas or ice giants: the exoplanet reality is just much broader. This fact is no doubt the result of the exceptional diversity of the evolutionary paths linking planetary systems as a whole as well as individual exoplanets and their proto-atmospheres to their parent circumstellar disks: this diversity and its causes are exactly what this paper explores. For each of the main phases of the formation and evolution of planetary systems and of individual planets, we summarize what we believe we understand and what are the important open questions needing further in-depth examination, and offer some suggestions on ways towards solutions.We start with the formation mechanisms of circumstellar disks, with their gas and disk components in which chemical composition plays a very important role in planet formation. We summarize how dust accretion within the disk generates planet cores, while gas accretion on these cores can lead to the diversity of their fluid envelopes. The temporal evolution of the parent disk itself, and its final dissipation, put strong constraints on how and how far planetary formation can proceed. The radiation output of the central star also plays an important role in this whole story. This early phase of planet evolution, from disk formation to dissipation, is characterized by a co-evolution of the disk and its daughter planets. During this co-evolution, planets and their protoatmospheres not only grow, but they also migrate radially as a result of their interaction with the disk, thus moving progressively from their distance of formation to their final location. The formation of planetary fluid envelopes (proto-atmospheres and oceans), is an essential product of this planet formation scenario which strongly constrains their possible evolution towards habitability. We discuss the effects of the initial conditions in the disk, of the location, size and mass of the planetary core, of the disk lifetime and of the radiation output and activity of the central star, on the formation of these envelopes and on their relative extensions with respect to the planet core. Overall, a fraction of the planets retain the primary proto-atmosphere they initially accreted from the gas disk. For those which lose it in this early evolution, outgassing of volatiles from the planetary core and mantle, together with some contributions of volatiles from colliding bodies, give them a chance to form a “secondary” atmosphere, like that of our own Earth.When the disk finally dissipates, usually before 10 Million years of age, it leaves us with the combination of a planetary system and a debris disk, each with a specific radial distribution with respect to their parent star(s). Whereas the dynamics of protoplanetary disks is dominated by gas-solid dynamical coupling, debris disks are dominated by gravitational dynamics acting on diverse families of planetesimals. Solid-body collisions between them and giant impacts on young planetary surfaces generate a new population of gas and dust in those disks. Synergies between solar system and exoplanet studies are particularly fruitful and need to be stimulated even more, because they give access to different and complementary components of debris disks: whereas the different families of planetesimals can be extensively studied in the solar system, they remain unobserved in exoplanet systems. But, in those systems, long-wavelength telescopic observations of dust provide a wealth of indirect information about the unobserved population of planetesimals. Promising progress is being currently made to observe the gas component as well, using millimetre and sub-millimetre giant radio interferometers.Within planetary systems themselves, individual planets are the assembly of a solid body and a fluid envelope, including their planetary atmosphere when there is one. Their characteristics range from terrestrial planets through sub-Neptunes and Neptunes and to gas giants, each type covering most of the orbital distances probed by present-day techniques. With the continuous progress in detection and characterization techniques and the advent of major providers of new data like the Kepler mission, the architecture of these planetary systems can be studied more and more accurately in a statistically meaningful sense and compared to the one of our own solar system, which does not appear to be an exceptional case. Finally, our understanding of exoplanets atmospheres has made spectacular advances recently using the occultation spectroscopy techniques implemented on the currently operating space and ground-based observing facilities.The powerful new observing facilities planned for the near and more distant future will make it possible to address many of the most challenging current questions of the science of exoplanets and their systems. There is little doubt that, using this new generation of facilities, we will be able to reconstruct more and more accurately the complex evolutionary paths which link stellar genesis to the possible emergence of habitable worlds.     

Solar Isotopic Composition as Determined Using Solar Energetic Particles

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) provide a sample of the Sun from which solar composition may be determined. Using high-resolution measurements from the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) onboard NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft, we have studied the isotopic composition of SEPs at energies ≥20 MeV/nucleon in large SEP events. We present SEP isotope measurements of C, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Fe, and Ni made in 49 large events from late 1997 to the present. The isotopic composition is highly variable from one SEP event to another due to variations in seed particle composition or due to mass fractionation that occurs during the acceleration and/or transport of these particles. We show that various isotopic and elemental enhancements are correlated with each other, discuss the empirical corrections used to account for the compositional variability, and obtain estimated solar isotopic abundances. We compare the solar values and their uncertainties inferred from SEPs with solar wind and other solar system abundances and find generally good agreement.     

Calculation of resultant vector and principal moment of light pressure forces acting upon the spacecraft with a solar sail

Two methods of calculating the resultant vector and principal moment of light pressure forces, having an effect on a spacecraft with a composite solar sail, are compared. The first method is based on analytical formulas obtained without regard to shading of some parts of the sail by others. The second method uses a detailed geometrical model of the sail, which allows one to take such shading into account. Some part of photons falling on a sail is supposed to be reflected from it in a mirror manner, while the others are completely absorbed. The range of variation of sail orientation parameters with respect to incident solar light streams, where the first method turns out to be accurate enough, is found.     

The space situational awareness program of the European Space Agency

The organization principles of constructing the European system of warning about dangerous situations in the outer space are considered in the paper.     

Cometary Materials: Progress Toward Understanding the Composition in the Outer Solar Nebula

A major objective of the workshop was to learn about the chemical composition, physical structure, and thermodynamic conditions of the outer parts of the solar nebula where comets formed. Here we sum up what we have learned from years of research about the molecular constituents of comet comae primarily from in situ measurements of Comet 1P/Halley and remote sensing of Comets 1P/Halley, Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1), and Hyakutake (C/1996 B2). These three bright comets are presumably captured Oort cloud comets. We summarize the analyses of these data to predict the composition of comet nuclei and project them further to the composition, structure, and thermodynamic conditions in the nebula. Near-future comet missions are directed toward less active short-period Jupiter-family comets. Thus, future analyses will afford a better understanding of the diversity of these two major groups of comets and their respective regions of origin in the solar or presolar nebula. We conclude with recommendations for determining critical data needed to aid in further analyses. Results of the workshop provide new guidelines and constraints for modeling the solar nebula. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Composition of the Volatile Material in Halley's Coma from In Situ Measurements

The investigation of the volatile material in the coma of comets is a key to understanding the origin of cometary material, the physical and chemical conditions in the early solar system, the process of comet formation, and the changes that comets have undergone during the last 4.6 billion years. So far, in situ investigations of the volatile constituents have been confined to a single comet, namely P/Halley in 1986. Although, the Giotto mission gave only a few hours of data from the coma, it has yielded a surprising amount of new data and has advanced cometary science by a large step. In the present article the most important results of the measurements of the volatile material of Halley's comet are summarized and an overview of the identified molecules is given. Furthermore, a list of identified radicals and unstable molecules is presented for the first time. At least one of the radicals, namely CH₂, seems to be present as such in the cometary ice. As an outlook to the future we present a list of open questions concerning cometary volatiles and a short preview on the next generation of mass spectrometers that are being built for the International Rosetta Mission to explore the coma of Comet Wirtanen. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Low Latitude Ionospheric Electrodynamics

The low latitude ionosphere is strongly affected by several highly variable electrodynamic processes. Over the last two decades ground-based and satellite measurements and global numerical models have been extensively used to study the longitude-dependent climatology of low latitude electric fields and currents. These electrodynamic processes and their ionospheric effects exhibit large ranges of temporal and spatial variations during both geomagnetic quiet and disturbed conditions. Numerous recent studies have investigated the short term response of equatorial electric fields and currents to lower atmospheric transport processes and solar wind-magnetosphere driving mechanisms. This includes the large electric field and current perturbations associated with arctic sudden stratospheric warming events during geomagnetic quiet times and highly variable storm time prompt penetration and ionospheric disturbance dynamo effects. In this review, we initially describe recent experimental and numerical modeling results of the global climatology and short term variability of quiet time low latitude electrodynamic plasma drifts. Then, we examine the present understanding of equatorial electric field and current perturbation fields during periods of enhanced geomagnetic activity.     

Optimization of transfers under constraints on the thrust direction: I

Transfers with a low thrust are considered under constraints imposed on the thrust vector direction. These constraints can be caused by peculiarities of the attitude control system and the mode of stabilization of a spacecraft, and, in the general case, they are functions of the time and state vector. The constraints specified by equalities and inequalities are investigated. It is shown that the optimal thrust is directed along the projection of the Lawden’s primer vector onto the restricting set.     

Rosina – Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis

The Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) will answer important questions posed by the mission’s main objectives. After Giotto, this will be the first time the volatile part of a comet will be analyzed in situ. This is a very important investigation, as comets, in contrast to meteorites, have maintained most of the volatiles of the solar nebula. To accomplish the very demanding objectives through all the different phases of the comet’s activity, ROSINA has unprecedented capabilities including very wide mass range (1 to >300 amu), very high mass resolution (m/Δ m > 3000, i.e. the ability to resolve CO from N₂ and ¹³C from ¹²CH), very wide dynamic range and high sensitivity, as well as the ability to determine cometary gas velocities, and temperature. ROSINA consists of two mass spectrometers for neutrals and primary ions with complementary capabilities and a pressure sensor. To ensure that absolute gas densities can be determined, each mass spectrometer carries a reservoir of a calibrated gas mixture allowing in-flight calibration. Furthermore, identical flight-spares of all three sensors will serve for detailed analysis of all relevant parameters, in particular the sensitivities for complex organic molecules and their fragmentation patterns in our electron bombardment ion sources.