OUR PROPOSAL WILL ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN OF THE ROSETTA MISSION THROUGH THE GENERATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS OF THE SURFACE OF THE COMET. THIS TOPOGRAPHIC INFORMATION WHICH WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE COMMUNITY WILL BE COMBINED WITH IMAGE DATA AND ALLOW US TO QUANTITATIVELY MEASURE CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN OBSERVED ON THE SURFACE. THIS METHODOLOGY WILL ALLOW FOR US TO PUT LIMITS ON MASS LOSS DURING DYNAMIC PHENOMENA. OUR WORK WILL ALSO PROVIDE A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL CHANGES WITHIN THE SMOOTH TERRAINS WHICH WILL PROVIDE A DIRECT MEASURE OF THE VOLUME OF MATERIAL THAT FALLS BACK TO 67P S SURFACE THROUGHOUT PERIHELION. THIS CRITICAL UNKNOWN CONTRIBUTES TO THE UNCERTAINTY OF 67P S DUST/ICE RATIO. WE WILL ALSO USE THE TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS TO PERFORM NUMERICAL LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION SIMULATIONS TO UNDERSTAND THE TRANSIENT CHANGES OBSERVED WITHIN SMOOTH TERRAINS. THESE SIMULATIONS WILL BE VALIDATED BY ROSETTA DATA.
$425,696FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Cornell University, Ithaca NY