THE SUN
HIGHLIGHTS
Diameter: 109 x Earth diameter
Mass: 333,000 x Earth mass
Composition: 98% hydrogen and helium, 2% other elements
Surface Temperature: 5,500°C
Central Temperature: 15 million °C
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory
Launch date: February 11, 2010
LASP instrument: Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE)
Instrument highlight: Studying how and why the Sun’s extreme ultraviolet light varies over time
Mission highlight: Captured video of enormous solar ‘tornadoes’, ultra-hot plumes of plasma swirling above the Sun’s surface
MERCURY
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 0.39 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 87.9 days
Diameter: 0.38 x Earth diameter
Mass: 0.055 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 58.6 days
Average density: 5.43 g/cm3
Composition: rocky (including both rock and metal)
Average surface temperature: 425°C (day), –175°C (night)
Moons: 0
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's MESSENGER Mission
Launch date: August 3, 2004
LASP instrument: Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS)
Instrument highlight: First detection of magnesium in Mercury’s exosphere
Mission highlight: Verification that Mercury hosts water-ice deposits in shadowed craters at its poles
VENUS
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 0.72 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 225 days
Diameter: 0.95 x Earth diameter
Mass: 0.82 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 243 days
Average density: 5.24 g/cm3
Composition: rocky (including both rock and metal)
Average surface temperature: 470°C
Moons: 0
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Pioneer Venus Orbiter
Launch date: May 20, 1978
LASP instrument: Orbiter Ultraviolet Spectrometer (OUVS)
Instrument highlight: Discovery of sulfur dioxide in the clouds, indicating possible volcanic eruptions
Mission highlight: Identification of 10.8-kilometer-high mountain, Maxwell Montes, as the planet’s highest point
EARTH
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 150 million km
Orbital period: 1 year
Diameter: 1.00 x Earth diameter (12,756 km)
Mass: 1.00 x Earth mass (6 x 1024 kg)
Rotation period: 24 hours
Average density: 5.52 g/cm3
Composition: rocky (including both rock and metal)
Average surface temperature: 15°C
Moons: 1
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Libera
Tentative launch date: 2028
LASP instrument: Four broad-band Earth-viewing radiometers and a wide-field-of-view camera
Instrument highlights: Innovative “split shortwave” channel to enable new Earth radiation budget research; high-accuracy electrical substitution radiometers using vertically aligned carbon nanotube detectors
Mission highlight: Seamless continuation of the decades-long record from CERES of the amount of energy leaving Earth on a daily basis
MARS
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 1.52 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 1.88 years
Diameter: 0.53 x Earth diameter
Mass: 0.11 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 24.6 hours
Average density: 3.93 g/cm3
Composition: rocky (including both rock and metal)
Average surface temperature: –55°C
Moons: 2 (very small)
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's MAVEN Mission
Launch date: November 18, 2013
LASP role: LASP leads the mission, provided the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument, and co-developed the Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPS) instrument
Instrument highlight: Discovery of an extraterrestrial aurora caused by the ‘precipitation’ of highly energized protons into the Martian atmosphere; compelling evidence that the summer dust storm season amplifies the loss of water from Mars
ASTEROID BELT
HIGHLIGHTS
Location: most orbit in asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
Sizes: wide range, from boulders to 1,000-km diameter Ceres
Compositions: rocky (including both rock and metal)
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
UAE mission to explore the asteroid belt (currently unnamed)
Tentative launch date: 2028
Instruments and mission objectives have not yet been selected
JUPITER
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 5.20 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 11.9 years
Diameter: 11.2 x Earth diameter
Mass: 318 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 9.9 hours
Average density: 1.33 g/cm3
Composition: hydrogen-rich (mostly hydrogen and helium)
Cloud-top temperature: –150°C
Moons: at least 79
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Galileo mission
Launch date: October 18, 1989
LASP instruments: Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EUV)
Instruments highlight: Observations of the impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments with Jupiter
Mission highlight: Discovery of an ocean of liquid water beneath the ice coating Jupiter’s moon, Europa
TROJAN ASTEROIDS
HIGHLIGHTS
Location: in orbit with Jupiter in two huge swarms leading and trailing the planet (clustered around the two Lagrange points equidistant from the Sun and Jupiter)
Sizes: ~ 200km and smaller
Compositions: rocky and icy objects
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Lucy Mission
Launch date: October 16, 2021
CU Contribution: APS Faculty and students contributed to stellar occultation campaigns of Lucy mission Trojan asteroid targets
Mission highlight: Measuring Trojan targets pass in front of stars provides size, shape, and position information that is critical for planning of upcoming Lucy mission flyby encounters
SATURN
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 9.54 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 29.4 years
Diameter: 9.4 x Earth diameter
Mass: 95 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 10.6 hours
Average density: 0.70 g/cm3
Composition: hydrogen-rich (mostly hydrogen and helium)
Cloud-top temperature: –180°C
Moons: at least 82
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Cassini
Launch date: October 15, 1997
LASP instrument: Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS)
Instrument highlight: Measured emissions from volcanic gasses from Io that had become ionized and trapped in Jupiter’s strong magnetic field.
Mission highlight: Detection of plume of water erupting from moon Enceladus
URANUS
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 19.2 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 83.8 years
Diameter: 4.0 x Earth diameter
Mass: 14.5 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 17.2 hours
Average density: 1.32 g/cm3
Composition: hydrogen-rich (mostly hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds like water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3))
Cloud-top temperature: –215°C
Moons: at least 27
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's Voyager 2
Launch date: August 20, 1977
LASP instrument: Photopolarimeter System (PPS)
Instrument highlight: Discovery that Uranus’ rings are younger than the solar system
Mission highlight: Detection of an irregular magnetic field, highly tilted from Uranus’ spin axis
NEPTUNE
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 30.1 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 165 years
Diameter: 3.9 x Earth diameter
Mass: 17.1 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 16.1 hours
Average density: 1.64 g/cm3
Composition: hydrogen-rich (mostly hydrogen, helium, and hydrogen compounds like water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3))
Cloud-top temperature: –215°C
Moons: at least 14
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA'S Voyager 2
Launch date: August 20, 1977
LASP instrument: Photopolarimeter System (PPS)
Instrument highlight: Discovery that Neptune’s rings are incomplete circles, created by dust knocked off tiny moons
Mission highlight: First mission to fly past Neptune and detect its irregular magnetic field
PLUTO - DWARF PLANET IN THE KUIPER BELT
HIGHLIGHTS
Average distance from the Sun: 39 x Earth distance
Orbital period: 248 years
Diameter: 0.18 x Earth diameter
Mass: 0.002 x Earth mass
Rotation period: 153 hours
Average density: 2.05 g/cm3
Composition: rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice and methane and nitrogen frost on the surface
Temperature: –228 to -238°C
Moons: 5
CU'S CONTRIBUTION
NASA's New Horizons
Launch date: January 19, 2006
LASP instrument: Student Dust Counter (SDC)
Instrument highlight: First student-built and student-designed science instrument launched on a planetary space mission
Mission highlight: Discovery of the largest known glacier in the solar system