Mission
Delta-X monitors changes in the water, vegetation, and sediment along the Mississippi River Delta.
Travel with our Solar System Time Machine
By understanding the climate and geomorphology on other planets and moons of our Solar System, we can learn about our own Earth. Understanding other celestial bodies is like a time machine: We can look into possible past and future scenarios, as some are lacking greenhouse effects, and some experience too much.
Mississippi River Delta on Earth
Let's start with the Mississippi River Delta in the United States. It is growing and sinking in different areas, meaning some parts will be flooded, while others might experience droughts. Multiple missions, including the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-3 mission "Delta-X" are used to monitor the area.
Duration
Delta-X is a 5-year mission that operates from 2019–2023
Observations
About the River Delta
The delta plain is a visible, broad, low-lying land mass where a river empties into a body of water. The sediment is transported to an open body of water (like the Gulf of Mexico) via distributary channels that stem off from the main river route. The remaining components become subaqueous and only the shallowest are visible in satellite imagery. Sediment type plays a major role in delta formation. Sediment in the Mississippi River Delta (MRD) is predominately sand, silt and clay, with sand being the coarsest and clay being the finest.
- A mouth bar is created when the distributary channel ends and water speed decreases, resulting in deposition of sediment.
- At the bottom of the slope is the delta front. The front is a shallow, subtidal portion of the delta where erosion and/or deposition and waves/tides are present.
- The prodelta is farther offshore and deeper below the influence of waves or tides. Here, sediment deposition is slowest and consists of the finer and lighter particles deposited from the river.
... on the Moon
Our closest celestial body is our own Moon, so we will continue here!
Mission
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Duration
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What can we learn from the Moon?
Kraken Mare on Titan
Other than Earth, Saturn's moon Titan is the only known body in our solar system that appears to have surface lakes. Other than Earth, they are made of liquid Methane.
Mission
Astraeus is a proposed mission to explore both atmosphere, and lakes of Titan.
Duration
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Surface lakes
What can we learn from Titan?
Atmosphere of Venus
The next really interesting planet is our twin, Venus. We are lucky to be a bit further away from the Sun than our neighbour, since otherwise we might experience way greater greenhouse effects than we have on Earth.
Mission
Venera 11-14 Landers.
Duration
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Clouds and ancient oceans
One of the main reasons for heating is the clouds that form preferentially on the night side of the planet. These clouds cause a very powerful greenhouse effect. Simulations show that if Earth was just a little closer to the Sun, it could have gone down the same road as Venus. Laboratory experiments and evolutionary comparisons with its nearest neighbor, Earth, suggest that Venus once had liquid water as well as CO2 and nitrogen, but that water was lost early in evolution, perhaps due to its closer proximity to the Sun. The Earth has large stores of carbonates in its crust. The process of carbonate formation from CO2 gas proceeds more efficiently in the presence of liquid water, which first dissolves CO2 to form carbonic acid, which then affects the silicate minerals in rocks in contact with the ocean. By keeping the ocean with liquid water, Earth has gradually reduced the carbon dioxide content of its atmosphere. While both planets originally had atmospheres with high pressure and predominantly carbon dioxide (and high surface temperatures), CO2 on Earth ended up mostly in carbonate rocks, while on Venus it remained in the atmosphere.
What can we learn from Venus?
Jezero crater on Mars
Our last celestial body we want to introduce and compare Earth to is Mars. Mars is a very interesting place for us human, beside our aim to have a permanent settlement, we can also learn a lot from the red planet. There is a possibility, that the Jezero crater is home to an ancient river delta, that was once flooded with water.
Mission
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Duration
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Salt-rich water
It was found that up to 15 meters below the surface of the crater floor, the material consists mainly of the magmatic mineral olivine and is layered by density and composition. The igneous composition of the rock indicates its volcanic origin, and the layering suggests that the material has been repeatedly exposed to liquid water. The lowest exposed geologic feature in the crater, known as the Séítah formation, was found to be predominantly composed of coarse crystalline olivine, while iron and magnesium carbonates detected in the material indicate reactions with carbon dioxide-rich water. The rocks also contain sulfates and perchlorates, which researchers believe were introduced later by evaporation of salt-rich water.