Space physics articles within Nature Geoscience

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• Article
  29 June 2023 | Open Access

  Magnetotail plasma eruptions driven by magnetic reconnection and kinetic instabilities

  Both magnetic reconnection and kinetic instabilities are required to produce magnetotail plasma eruptions, according to high-resolution global simulations of Earth’s magnetosphere.

  • Minna Palmroth
  • , Tuija I. Pulkkinen
  •  & Rumi Nakamura

• Comment | 04 August 2022

  Atmospheric impacts of the space industry require oversight

  Rocket emissions and debris from spacecraft falling out of orbit are having increasingly detrimental effects on global atmospheric chemistry. Improved monitoring and regulation are urgently needed to create an environmentally sustainable space industry.

  • Jamie D. Shutler
  • , Xiaoyu Yan
  •  & Hitoshi Nasu

• Article | 01 February 2021

  Implantation of Martian atmospheric ions within the regolith of Phobos

  Martian atmospheric atoms are implanted in and alter regolith grains on the nearside surface of Phobos, according to an analysis of observations of ion escape from Mars’s atmosphere.

  • Q. Nénon
  • , A. R. Poppe
  •  & J. P. McFadden

• News & Views | 04 January 2021

  Tree rings capture an unruly Sun

  • Mads Faurschou Knudsen

• Article | 04 January 2021

  Eleven-year solar cycles over the last millennium revealed by radiocarbon in tree rings

  11-year solar cycles consistently occurred throughout the last thousand years, according to a synthesis of annually resolved tree ring radiocarbon records from central Europe.

  • Nicolas Brehm
  • , Alex Bayliss
  •  & Lukas Wacker

• Article | 24 February 2020

  Crustal and time-varying magnetic fields at the InSight landing site on Mars

  The magnetic field measured by the InSight lander on Mars varies daily and is ten times stronger than expected. The field is inferred to originate from components of basement rocks magnetized by an ancient dynamo of Earth-like strength.

  • Catherine L. Johnson
  • , Anna Mittelholz
  •  & William B. Banerdt

• Article | 12 February 2018

  Widespread distribution of OH/H₂O on the lunar surface inferred from spectral data

  Hydroxyl produced by space weathering processes may be widespread and persistent on the lunar surface according to analysis of spectral data from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

  • Joshua L. Bandfield
  • , Michael J. Poston
  •  & Christopher S. Edwards

• Commentary | 29 June 2016

  Cassini's Grand Finale

  After more than a decade exploring Saturn and its moons, the Cassini mission is in its closing act. Cassini's last year is an encore performance stuffed with science, including a final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere.

  • Scott G. Edgington
  •  & Linda J. Spilker

• News & Views | 23 May 2016

  Atmosphere's solar shock

  Frequent storms on the young Sun would have ejected energetic particles and compressed Earth's magnetosphere. Simulations suggest that the particles penetrated the atmosphere and initiated reactions that warmed the planet and fertilized life.

  • Ramses Ramirez

• Letter | 23 May 2016

  Prebiotic chemistry and atmospheric warming of early Earth by an active young Sun

  An energetic process is needed to convert N₂ into compounds essential for life. Simulations show that interactions between powerful solar flares and Earth’s magnetic field could have facilitated nitrogen fixation in the early atmosphere.

  • V. S. Airapetian
  • , A. Glocer
  •  & W. Danchi

• News & Views | 27 November 2014

  Astronauts overexposed

  • Tamara Goldin

• In the press | 27 March 2013

  Double trouble from space

  • Nicola Jones

• Letter | 16 December 2012

  Reduction of electron density in the night-time lower ionosphere in response to a thunderstorm

  Tropospheric thunderstorms have been reported to disturb the lower ionosphere, at altitudes of 65–90 km. The use of lightning signals from a distant mesoscale storm to probe the lower ionosphere above a small tropospheric thunderstorm reveals a reduction in ionospheric electron density in response to lightning discharges in the small storm.

  • Xuan-Min Shao
  • , Erin H. Lay
  •  & Abram R. Jacobson

• News & Views | 14 October 2012

  Lunar water from the solar wind

  The surface of the Moon is not totally devoid of water. Analyses of lunar soils reveal that impact glasses contain significant amounts of water, with an isotopic composition that is indicative of an origin from the solar wind.

  • Marc Chaussidon

• Research Highlights | 28 February 2012

  Rained-down ridge

  • Amy Whitchurch

• Books & Arts | 30 September 2010

  The poetry of space

  • William Boynton

• Letter | 24 January 2010

  Origin of the Ganymede–Callisto dichotomy by impacts during the late heavy bombardment

  Jupiter’s large moons Ganymede and Callisto are similar in size and composition, but different in surface and interior characteristics. Simulations with geophysical models of core formation indicate that the difference in impact energy received by the two satellites during the period of late heavy bombardment can explain the dichotomy.

  • Amy C. Barr
  •  & Robin M. Canup