Michael J. Malaska
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View article: Infrared Spectra of Organic and Salt-bearing Ices under Titan Conditions: Constraints on Detection of Ocean Materials
Infrared Spectra of Organic and Salt-bearing Ices under Titan Conditions: Constraints on Detection of Ocean Materials Open
Titan, with its organic-rich atmosphere and global subsurface ocean, has long been considered a prime candidate to potentially host life beyond Earth. The detection of species frozen within ocean fluids when extruded on the surface via cry…
View article: A Comprehensive Framework for Assessing Terrestrial Analogue Field Sites for Ocean Worlds
A Comprehensive Framework for Assessing Terrestrial Analogue Field Sites for Ocean Worlds Open
Field studies at terrestrial analogue sites represent an important contribution to the science of ocean worlds. The value of the science and technology investigations conducted at field analogue sites depends on the relevance of the analog…
View article: Hydrothermal and Tidal Energy Flux at Titan, Enceladus, and Europa
Hydrothermal and Tidal Energy Flux at Titan, Enceladus, and Europa Open
Cassini/INMS observations of Saturn’s largest moon Titan, a frigid world T0~ 94 K, hosting a terrestrial-like atmosphere composed predominantly of N2, strongly suggest a missing flux of H2 and CH4 gas in its ~ 1.4 bar atmosphere. Indeed, m…
View article: From Voyager and Galileo to JUICE: Investigating Potential Cryovolcanic Regions on Ganymede
From Voyager and Galileo to JUICE: Investigating Potential Cryovolcanic Regions on Ganymede Open
Ganymede, the largest and most massive satellite in the solar system, has been extensively explored by past missions, including Voyager 1 and 2, and, more recently, Galileo. These missions revealed remarkable geological and geophysical fea…
View article: The Viability of Glycine Fermentation in Titan’s Subsurface Ocean
The Viability of Glycine Fermentation in Titan’s Subsurface Ocean Open
Energy and nutrient sources for life could be delivered to Titan’s subsurface water ocean from both its surface above and its core below. Organic matter forming de novo in Titan’s atmosphere and depositing on the surface may hydrolyze upon…
View article: Formation and Stability of the Propionitrile:Acetylene Co-Crystal Under Titan-Relevant Conditions
Formation and Stability of the Propionitrile:Acetylene Co-Crystal Under Titan-Relevant Conditions Open
Propionitrile (also known as ethyl cyanide, CH3CH2CN) and acetylene (C2H2) are two organic molecules that have been detected in Titan's atmosphere. Over time, they may interact with each other as they are transported to Titan's surface. We…
View article: Understanding the Composition of Titan’s Surface from Remote Sensing Data
Understanding the Composition of Titan’s Surface from Remote Sensing Data Open
International audience
View article: The Habitability of Hydrocarbon Words: Titan and Beyond
The Habitability of Hydrocarbon Words: Titan and Beyond Open
Titan is an ocean world, an icy world, and an organic world. We consider that Titan’s subsurface ocean and ductile ice are the most likely habitable environments on the moon. The ocean may be in contact with an organic-rich ice-rock …
View article: How to identify cell material in a single ice grain emitted from Enceladus or Europa
How to identify cell material in a single ice grain emitted from Enceladus or Europa Open
Icy moons like Enceladus, and perhaps Europa, emit material sourced from their subsurface oceans into space via plumes of ice grains and gas. Both moons are prime targets for astrobiology investigations. Cassini measurements revealed a lar…
View article: Revealing Callisto’s Carbon-rich Surface and CO<sub>2</sub> Atmosphere with JWST
Revealing Callisto’s Carbon-rich Surface and CO<sub>2</sub> Atmosphere with JWST Open
We analyzed spectral cubes of Callisto’s leading and trailing hemispheres, collected with the NIRSpec Integrated Field Unit (G395H) on the James Webb Space Telescope. These spatially resolved data show strong 4.25 μ m absorption bands resu…
View article: Biological functions at high pressure: transcriptome response of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 to hydrostatic pressure relevant to Titan and other icy ocean worlds
Biological functions at high pressure: transcriptome response of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 to hydrostatic pressure relevant to Titan and other icy ocean worlds Open
High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) is a key driver of life's evolution and diversification on Earth. Icy moons such as Titan, Europa, and Enceladus harbor potentially habitable high-pressure environments within their subsurface oceans. Titan,…
View article: Revealing Callisto's carbon-rich surface and CO2 atmosphere with JWST
Revealing Callisto's carbon-rich surface and CO2 atmosphere with JWST Open
We analyzed spectral cubes of Callisto's leading and trailing hemispheres, collected with the NIRSpec Integrated Field Unit (G395H) on the James Webb Space Telescope. These spatially resolved data show strong 4.25-micron absorption bands r…
View article: Updated inventory of Titan Organics
Updated inventory of Titan Organics Open
No abstract available.
View article: An intrusive cryomagmatic origin for northern radial labyrinth terrains on Titan and implications for the presence of crustal clathrates
An intrusive cryomagmatic origin for northern radial labyrinth terrains on Titan and implications for the presence of crustal clathrates Open
Titan's labyrinth terrains are an organic-rich, topographically elevated, highly dissected and puzzling geomorphic unit. How these features came to be composed of organics and remain elevated may hold clues about Titan's complicated histor…
View article: Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface Open
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a plethora of organic compounds in the atmosphere and on the surface that interact with each other. Cryominerals such as co-crystals may influence the geologic processes and chemical composition of Titan's…
View article: The chemical composition of the Soi crater region on Titan.
The chemical composition of the Soi crater region on Titan. Open
The Soi crater region, with the well-preserved Soi crater in its center, covers almost 10% of Titan’s surface. Schoenfeld et al. (2023) [1] mapped this region at 1:800,000 scale and produced a geomorphological map showing that the ar…
View article: Correction to: Instrumentation for Planetary Exploration
Correction to: Instrumentation for Planetary Exploration Open
Correction to: Chapter 6 in: V. Badescu et al. (eds.), Handbook of Space Resources, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97913-3_6
View article: Geomorphological Map of the Soi Crater Region on Titan
Geomorphological Map of the Soi Crater Region on Titan Open
We mapped the Soi crater region at 1:800,000 scale and produced a geomorphological map using methodology presented by Malaska, Lopes, Williams, et al. (2016), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.02.021 and Schoenfeld et al. (2021), https…
View article: Planetary Caves: A Solar System View of Processes and Products
Planetary Caves: A Solar System View of Processes and Products Open
We provide the first solar system wide compendium of speleogenic processes and products. An examination of 15 solar system bodies revealed that six cave‐forming processes occur beyond Earth including volcanic (cryo and magmatic), fracturin…
View article: CCDC 2175300: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
CCDC 2175300: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination Open
An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available …
View article: Chemical composition analysis of Titan&#8217;s equatorial and midlatitude surface regions
Chemical composition analysis of Titan’s equatorial and midlatitude surface regions Open
<p>The Cassini cameras and especially the Visual and infrared Mapping Spectrometer has provided a sequence of spectra showing the diversity of Titan&#8217;s surface spectrum from flybys performed during the 13 years of Cassini&am…
View article: Ganymede paterae: a priority target for JUICE
Ganymede paterae: a priority target for JUICE Open
<p>The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE), the first large-class of the European Space Agency (ESA), is planned to launch in 2023, and one of its main goals is to make detailed observations of Jupiter&#8217;s moon Ganymede. The m…
View article: Supporting Information for: Planetary Caves: A Solar System View of Processes and Products
Supporting Information for: Planetary Caves: A Solar System View of Processes and Products Open
This dataset consists of four files, which are structured as two MS Word documents. Each document serves as a readme file for a companion MS Excel spreadsheet. The first file pair is a Word document, "Supplemental_Info_LitReview_TextS1_Wyn…
View article: Habitability of Hydrocarbon Worlds: Titan and Beyond&#160;
Habitability of Hydrocarbon Worlds: Titan and Beyond  Open
<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Titan is an ocean world, an icy world, and an organic world. Recent models of the interior suggest that Titan&#8217;s subsurface ocean may be in contact with an organic-rich ice-rock …
View article: Fundamental Science and Engineering Questions in Planetary Cave Exploration
Fundamental Science and Engineering Questions in Planetary Cave Exploration Open
Nearly half a century ago, two papers postulated the likelihood of lunar lava tube caves using mathematical models. Today, armed with an array of orbiting and fly‐by satellites and survey instrumentation, we have now acquired cave data acr…
View article: The Role of Seasonal Sediment Transport and Sintering in Shaping Titan's Landscapes: A Hypothesis
The Role of Seasonal Sediment Transport and Sintering in Shaping Titan's Landscapes: A Hypothesis Open
Titan is a sedimentary world, with lakes, rivers, canyons, fans, dissected plateaux, and sand dunes. Sediments on Saturn's moon are thought to largely consist of mechanically weak organic grains, prone to rapid abrasion into dust. Yet, Tit…