Name:
Publisher version
View Source
Access full-text PDFOpen Access
View Source
Check access options
Check access options
Average rating
Cast your vote
You can rate an item by clicking the amount of stars they wish to award to
this item.
When enough users have cast their vote on this item, the average rating will also be shown.
Star rating
Your vote was cast
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Authors
Gassot, OrianePanicucci, Paolo
Acciarini, Giacomo
Bates, HC

Caballero, Manel
Cambianica, Pamela
Dziewiecki, Maciej
Dionnet, Zelia
Enengl, Florine
Gerig, Selina-Barbara
Hessinger, Felix
Kissick, Lucy
Novak, Moritz
Pellegrino, Carmine
Pontoni, Angèle
Ribeiro, Tânia M
Riegler, Clemens
Berge, Nini
Huber, Nikolaus
Hynek, Richard
Kędziora, Bartosz
Kiss, Adam
Martin, Maurice
Montilla, Javier Navarro
Issue date
2021-01-12Subject Terms
CeresAstrobiology
Calathus
Solar system
Surface water
Space mission
Ocean worlds
Samples
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Ceres, as revealed by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, is an ancient, crater-saturated body dominated by low-albedo clays. Yet, localised sites display a bright, carbonate mineralogy that may be as young as 2 Myr. The largest of these bright regions (faculae) are found in the 92 km Occator Crater, and would have formed by the eruption of alkaline brines from a subsurface reservoir of fluids. The internal structure and surface chemistry suggest that Ceres is an extant host for a number of the known prerequisites for terrestrial biota, and as such, represents an accessible insight into a potentially habitable “ocean world”. In this paper, the case and the means for a return mission to Ceres are outlined, presenting the Calathus mission to return to Earth a sample of the Occator Crater faculae for high-precision laboratory analyses. Calathus consists of an orbiter and a lander with an ascent module: the orbiter is equipped with a high-resolution camera, a thermal imager, and a radar; the lander contains a sampling arm, a camera, and an on-board gas chromatograph mass spectrometer; and the ascent module contains vessels for four cerean samples, collectively amounting to a maximum 40 g. Upon return to Earth, the samples would be characterised via high-precision analyses to understand the salt and organic composition of the Occator faculae, and from there to assess both the habitability and the evolution of a relict ocean world from the dawn of the Solar System.Citation
Oriane Gassot, Paolo Panicucci, Giacomo Acciarini, Helena Bates, Manel Caballero, Pamela Cambianica, Maciej Dziewiecki, Zelia Dionnet, Florine Enengl, Selina-Barbara Gerig, Felix Hessinger, Lucy Kissick, Moritz Novak, Carmine Pellegrino, Angèle Pontoni, Tânia M. Ribeiro, Clemens Riegler, Nini Berge, Nikolaus Huber, Richard Hynek, Bartosz Kędziora, Adam Kiss, Maurice Martin, Javier Navarro Montilla, Calathus: A sample-return mission to Ceres, Acta Astronautica, Volume 181, 2021, Pages 112-129, ISSN 0094-5765, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.12.050.Publisher
Elsevier BVJournal
Acta AstronauticaType
Journal ArticleItem Description
The attached document is the authors’ final accepted version of the journal article provided here with a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Creative Commons Licence. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it.’ISSN
0094-5765ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.12.050
Scopus Count
Collections