Earth and Planetary Physics

The plume–surface interaction (PSI) is a common phenomenon that describes the environment surrounding the landers resulting from the impingement of hot rocket exhaust on the regolith of planetary bodies. The PSI will cause obscuration, erosion of the planetary surface, and high-speed spreading of dust or high-energy ejecta streams, which will induce risks to a safe landing and cause damage to payloads on the landers or to nearby assets. Safe landings and the subsequent scientific goals of deep-space exploration in China call for a comprehensive understanding of the PSI process, including the plume flow mechanics, erosion mechanism, and ejecta dynamics. In addition, the landing crater caused by the plume provides a unique and insightful perspective on the understanding of PSI. In particular, the PSI can be used directly to constrain the composition, structure, and mechanical properties of the surface and subsurface soil. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of the phenomenology and terrestrial tests of PSI: we analyzed the critical factors in the PSI process and compared the differences in PSI phenomena between lunar and Martian conditions; we also reviewed the main erosion mechanisms and the evolution and development of terrestrial tests on PSI. We discuss the problems with PSI, challenges of terrestrial tests, and prospects of PSI, and we show the preliminary results obtained from the landing crater caused by the PSI of Tianwen-1. From analysis of the camera images and digital elevation model reconstructions, we concluded that the landing of Tianwen-1 caused the deepest crater (depth &gt; 40 cm) on a planetary surface reported to date and revealed stratigraphic layers in the subsurface of Martian soil. We further constrained the lower bounds of the mechanical properties of Martian soil by a slope stability analysis of the Tianwen-1 landing crater. The PSI may offer promising opportunities to obtain greater insights into planetary science, including the subsurface structure, mineral composition, and properties of soil.

Tao Xu

Bo Zheng

ZhaoBin Zhang

Juan Li

ShouDing Li

XinShuo Chen

XiuKuo Sun

YanFang Wu

YiMing Diao

Phenomenology of plume–surface interactions and preliminary results from the Tianwen-1 landing crater on Mars

火星天问一号着陆坑羽流-表面相互作用现象学及初步结果

Mars Orbiter MAGnetometer (MOMAG) is a scientific instrument onboard the orbiter of China’s first mission for Mars — Tianwen-1. It started to routinely measure the magnetic field from the solar wind to magnetic pile-up region surrounding Mars since November 13, 2021. Here we present its in-flight performance and first science results based on the first one and a half months’ data. By comparing with the magnetic field data in the solar wind from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), the magnetic field by MOMAG is at the same level in magnitude, and the same magnetic structures with the similar variations in three components could be found in MOMAG data. In the first one and a half months, we recognize 158 clear bow shock (BS) crossings from MOMAG data, whose locations sta tistically match well with the modeled average BS. We also identify 5 pairs of simultaneous BS crossings of the Tianwen-1’s orbiter and MAVEN. These BS crossings confirm the global shape of modeled BS as well as the south-north asymmetry of the Martian BS. Two presented cases in this paper suggest that the BS is probably more dynamic at flank than near the nose. So far, MOMAG performs well, and provides accurate magnetic field vectors. MOMAG is continuously scanning the magnetic field surrounding Mars. These measurements complemented by observations from MAVEN will undoubt edly advance our understanding of the plasma environment of Mars.

YuMing Wang

TieLong Zhang

GuoQiang Wang

SuDong Xiao

ZhuXuan Zou

Long Cheng

ZongHao Pan

Kai Liu

XinJun Hao

YiRen Li

ManMing Chen

ZhouBin Zhang

Wei Yan

ZhenPeng Su

ZhiYong Wu

ChengLong Shen

YuTian Chi

MengJiao Xu

JingNan Guo

Yang Du

The Mars orbiter magnetometer of Tianwen-1: in-flight performance and first science results

天问一号火星轨道磁强计：在轨性能与初步科学成果

The Qilian Orogen Zone (QOZ), located in the north margin of the Tibetan Plateau, is the key area for understanding the deformation and dynamics process of Tibet. Numerous geological and geophysical studies have been carried out on the mechanics of the Tibetan Plateau deformation and uplift; however, the detailed structure and deformation style of the Qilian Orogen Zone have remained uncertain due to poor geophysical data coverage and limited resolution power of inversion algorithms. In this study, we analyze the P‐wave velocity structure beneath the Qilian Orogen Zone, obtained by applying multi‐scale seismic tomography technique to P‐wave arrival time data recorded by regional seismic networks. The seismic tomography algorithm used in this study employs sparsity constraints on the wavelet representation of the velocity model via L1‐norm regularization. This algorithm can deal efficiently with uneven‐sampled volumes, and can obtain multi‐scale images of the velocity model. Our results can be summarized as follows: (1) The crustal velocity structure is strongly inhomogeneous and consistent with the surface geological setting. Significant low‐velocity anomalies exist in the crust of northeastern Tibet, and slight high‐velocity anomalies exist beneath the Qaidam Basin and Alxa terrane. (2) The Qilian Orogen Zone can be divided into two main parts by the Laji Shan Faults: the northwestern part with a low‐velocity feature, and the southeastern part with a high‐velocity feature at the upper and middle crust. (3) Our tomographic images suggest that northwestern and southeastern Qilian Orogen Zones have undergone different tectonic processes. In the northwest Qilian Orogen Zone, the deformation and growth of the Northern Tibetan Plateau has extended to the Heli Shan and Beida Shan region by northward over‐thrusting at the upper crust and thickening in the lower crust. We speculate that in the southeast Qilian Orogen Zone the deformation and growth of the Northern Tibet Plateau were of strike‐slip style at the upper crust; in the lower crust, the evidence suggests ductile shear extrusion style and active frontage extension to the Alxa terrane. (4) The multi‐scale seismic tomography technique provides multi‐scale analysis and sparse constraints, which has allowed to us obtain stable, high‐resolution results.

Biao Guo

State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics Institute of Geology China Earthquake Administration Beijing 100029 China

JiuHui Chen

QiYuan Liu

ShunCheng Li

Crustal structure beneath the Qilian Orogen Zone from multiscale seismic tomography

祁连造山带下地壳结构的多尺度地震层析成像

GuoHong Shen

DongHui Hou

Yuan Chang

XianGuo Zhang

HuanXin Zhang

Bin Yuan

BinQuan Zhang

Ying Sun

Neutron observations from the energetic particle detector on China’s Space Station

来自中国空间站能粒子探测器的中子观测

Prayitno Abadi

Ihsan N. Muafiry

Teguh N. Pratama

Angga Y. Putra

None Suraina

Gatot H. Pramono

Sidik T. Wibowo

Febrylian F. Chabibi

Umar A. Ahmad

Wildan P. Tresna

None Asnawi

Leveraging ROTI map derived from Indonesian GNSS receiver network for advancing study of Equatorial Plasma Bubble in Southeast/East Asia

利用印度尼西亚GNSS接收机网络衍生的ROTI图谱推进东南亚/东亚赤道等离子体泡研究

ZhengYong Ren

YiFei Xie

ChaoJian Chen

HongBo Yao

JingTian Tang

Keke Zhang

New insights into Earth’s mantle conductivity and water distribution using the Macau Science Satellite-one data

利用澳门科学一号卫星数据对地球地幔电导率及水分布的新见解

YiPiao Huang

Cong Yang

Preliminary results of tidal-induced magnetic fields extracted from the Macau Science Satellite-1

澳门科学一号卫星提取的潮汐感应磁场初步结果

JiaWen Tang

Sai Zhang

FuLiang Xiao

HongMing Yang

Si Liu

YiHua He

Chang Yang

YuYue Jin

ZhouKun Deng

Ping Li

Archie James Johnston

Distinct MLT asymmetry of auroral kilometric radiation observed by the FAST satellite

FAST卫星观测到的极光千米波辐射的独特MLT不对称性

Abbreviation	Earth Planet. Phys.
Journal Impact	2.62
Quartiles(Global)	GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY(Q2)

ISSN	2096-3955
h-index	22

Publication Information	Publisher: Science China Press，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: Yes
Basic data	Year of publication: 2017，Proportion of original research papers: 98.04%，Self Citation Rate:12.00%， Gold OA Rate: 98.79%
Journal Fees	$Details
Average review cycle	10 weeks

Earth and Planetary Physics

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Phenomenology of plume–surface interactions and preliminary results from the Tianwen-1 landing crater on Mars

The Mars orbiter magnetometer of Tianwen-1: in-flight performance and first science results

Crustal structure beneath the Qilian Orogen Zone from multiscale seismic tomography

Neutron observations from the energetic particle detector on China’s Space Station

Leveraging ROTI map derived from Indonesian GNSS receiver network for advancing study of Equatorial Plasma Bubble in Southeast/East Asia

Neutron observations from the energetic particle detector on China’s Space Station

Leveraging ROTI map derived from Indonesian GNSS receiver network for advancing study of Equatorial Plasma Bubble in Southeast/East Asia

New insights into Earth’s mantle conductivity and water distribution using the Macau Science Satellite-one data

Preliminary results of tidal-induced magnetic fields extracted from the Macau Science Satellite-1

Distinct MLT asymmetry of auroral kilometric radiation observed by the FAST satellite