Transmission probability of gas molecules through porous layers at Knudsen diffusion.

Gas flow through layers of porous materials plays a crucial role in technical applications, geology, petrochemistry, and space sciences (e.g., fuel cells, catalysis, shale gas production, and outgassing of volatiles from comets). In many applications the Knudsen regime is predominant, where the pore size is small compared to the mean free path between intermolecular collisions. In this context common parameters to describe the gas percolation through layers of porous media are the probability of gas molecule transmission and the Knudsen diffusion coefficient of the medium. We show how probabilistic considerations on layer partitions lead to the analytical description of the permeability of a porous medium to gas flow as a function of layer thickness. The derivations are made on the preconditions that the molecule reflection at pore surfaces is diffuse and that the pore structure is homogenous on a scale much larger than the pore size. By applying a bi-hemispherical Maxwell distribution, relations between the layer transmission probability, the half-transmission thickness, and the Knudsen diffusion coefficient are obtained. For packings of spheres, expressions of these parameters in terms of porosity and grain size are derived and compared with former standard models. A verification of the derived equations is given by means of numerical simulations, also providing evidence that our analytical model for sphere packing is more accurate than the former classical models.

In situ methods for measuring thermal properties and heat flux on planetary bodies.

The thermo-mechanical properties of planetary surface and subsurface layers control to a high extent in which way a body interacts with its environment, in particular how it responds to solar irradiation and how it interacts with a potentially existing atmosphere. Furthermore, if the natural temperature profile over a certain depth can be measured in situ, this gives important information about the heat flux from the interior and thus about the thermal evolution of the body. Therefore, in most of the recent and planned planetary lander missions experiment packages for determining thermo-mechanical properties are part of the payload. Examples are the experiment MUPUS on Rosetta's comet lander Philae, the TECP instrument aboard NASA's Mars polar lander Phoenix, and the mole-type instrument HP(3) currently developed for use on upcoming lunar and Mars missions. In this review we describe several methods applied for measuring thermal conductivity and heat flux and discuss the particular difficulties faced when these properties have to be measured in a low pressure and low temperature environment. We point out the abilities and disadvantages of the different instruments and outline the evaluation procedures necessary to extract reliable thermal conductivity and heat flux data from in situ measurements.

A soft solid surface on Titan as revealed by the Huygens Surface Science Package.

The surface of Saturn's largest satellite--Titan--is largely obscured by an optically thick atmospheric haze, and so its nature has been the subject of considerable speculation and discussion. The Huygens probe entered Titan's atmosphere on 14 January 2005 and descended to the surface using a parachute system. Here we report measurements made just above and on the surface of Titan by the Huygens Surface Science Package. Acoustic sounding over the last 90 m above the surface reveals a relatively smooth, but not completely flat, surface surrounding the landing site. Penetrometry and accelerometry measurements during the probe impact event reveal that the surface was neither hard (like solid ice) nor very compressible (like a blanket of fluffy aerosol); rather, the Huygens probe landed on a relatively soft solid surface whose properties are analogous to wet clay, lightly packed snow and wet or dry sand. The probe settled gradually by a few millimetres after landing.

COMETARY SCIENCE. The landing(s) of Philae and inferences about comet surface mechanical properties.

The Philae lander, part of the Rosetta mission to investigate comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, was delivered to the cometary surface in November 2014. Here we report the precise circumstances of the multiple landings of Philae, including the bouncing trajectory and rebound parameters, based on engineering data in conjunction with operational instrument data. These data also provide information on the mechanical properties (strength and layering) of the comet surface. The first touchdown site, Agilkia, appears to have a granular soft surface (with a compressive strength of 1 kilopascal) at least ~20 cm thick, possibly on top of a more rigid layer. The final landing site, Abydos, has a hard surface.