title: COMETARY SCIENCE. The structure of the regolith on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from ROLIS descent imaging.
abstract: The structure of the upper layer of a comet is a product of its surface activity. The Rosetta Lander Imaging System (ROLIS) on board Philae acquired close-range images of the Agilkia site during its descent onto comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. These images reveal a photometrically uniform surface covered by regolith composed of debris and blocks ranging in size from centimeters to 5 meters. At the highest resolution of 1 centimeter per pixel, the surface appears granular, with no apparent deposits of unresolved sand-sized particles. The thickness of the regolith varies across the imaged field from 0 to 1 to 2 meters. The presence of aeolian-like features resembling wind tails hints at regolith mobilization and erosion processes. Modeling suggests that abrasion driven by airfall-induced particle "splashing" is responsible for the observed formations.
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany. stefano.mottola@dlr.de.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mottola
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.affiliation: DLR, Space Management, Space Science. Bonn, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany. Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Geological Sciences, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.lastname: Jaumann
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Geological Sciences, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Institute of Space Astrophysics, Orsay, France.
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authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany. Humboldt University Berlin, Germany.
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authors.lastname: Hamm
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.lastname: Scholten
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany.
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authors.affiliation: Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Centre National d'Études Spatiales, Toulouse, France.
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authors.affiliation: Magellium, Ramonville Saint-Agne, France.
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authors.lastname: Souvannavong
authors.affiliation: Magellium, Ramonville Saint-Agne, France.
authors.forename: B
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authors.lastname: Dolives