The Small Satellites of the Solar System: Priorities for the Decadal Study
Whitepaper #136 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: giant planets systems; other planetary bodies: small bodies; primitive bodies
by Bonnie Buratti, Erik Asphaug, James Bauer, Julie Bellerose, David Blewett, William Bottke, Daniel Britt, Julie Castillo-Rogez, Tilmann Denk, Nader Haghighipour, Jian-Yang Li, David Nesvorny, Andrew Rivkin, Daniel Scheeres, Mark V. Sykes, Peter Thomas, Anne Verbiscer, Faith Vilas, Hajime Yano, Richard Cartwright, and Timothy Holt
Published onMar 18, 2021
The Small Satellites of the Solar System: Priorities for the Decadal Study
This paper emphasizes the importance of studying the small moons of the Solar System, both the outer, irregular moons of the gas/ice giants, and the inner moons of planets. Observations of them should be considered in mission planning. We also advocate for a robust NASA Participating Scientist Program for JAXA’s MMX mission to Phobos and Deimos.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
