Time for another batch of papers from Planetary Science Journal. From 2025 vol. 6 (no issues):
Grewal, D. S. Manilal, V. Implications of Differentiated Late Accretion for the Volatile Inventory of the Bulk Silicate Earth art 13 ad9606
Nugent, C. R. Tan, N. Bauer, J. FindPOTATOs: Minor Planet Observation Linking Software art 18 ad94eb
Brown, M. E. Wong, I. Belyakov, M. JWST Near-infrared Spectroscopy of High-albedo Jupiter Trojans: A New Surface Type in the Trojan Belt art 22 ad9a60
Selmi, E. Devogèle, M. Masiero, J. R. et al. Cross Validation of Albedo Determination for 1627 Ivar from Three Different Techniques art 26 ada563
Boeren, N. J. Schmidt, P. K. Tulej, M. et al. ORIGIN: Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry of Nucleobases for In Situ Space Exploration art 28 ad9de9
Battle, A. Reddy, V. Sanchez, J. A. et al. Long-term Spectral Monitoring of Active Asteroid (6478) Gault: Implications for the H Chondrite Parent Body art 31 ada286
Just a bunch of dumb rocks, eh? Grewal et al. consider the asteroids needed to explain the (current) composition of Earth- in other words, what primal, basic components set our history.
In general, Nugent et al. report on their software to aid asteroid searches. For planetary defense, for more-detailed study, for asteroid mining and in situ resource utilization (ISRU) by general exploration missions, and for the pure knowledge of what’s in our Solar System.
Mike Brown (yes, the “I Killed Pluto” Mike Brown) won time on the James Webb telescope. Using that contested resource, he and his team claim a new genus in the Jupiter Trojan regions. What’s in our Solar System, indeed.
…and along with ‘more detailed study’, Selmi et al. meta-study our knowledge of (1627) Ivar. Albedo is a basic factor, indicating certain surface compositions (and not others) while leading to a size estimate (needed in planetary defense, for threat assessment). How do we know albedos of asteroids (along with comets), and how well do we know what we know?
…and more details of ‘more detailed study’. Small bodies preserve and transport the ingredients for life. The Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx missions existed for the very purpose of verifying which ingredients, and how much, by returning a sample. Can we skip the return leg? Boeren et al. are trying to build instruments that might someday do that, now that we have two as reference points.
…and along with ‘asteroid mining and ISRU’, Battle et al. present the (continuing) case of (6478) Gault. It does not appear that Gault is an ‘asterocomet’/‘comsteroid’ (transitional Small Solar System Body). But an active asteroid is an active asteroid; the techniques and logic used to study one will also apply to another, which may be or is a transitional object (like Bennu).