Annual report 2005

Annual report of the Cosmic Materials Space Research Group for 2005, from the yearbook Űrtevékenység Magyarországon (Space Activities in Hungary).

ELTE Faculty of Science / MTA Geonomy Committee – Cosmic Materials Space Research Group
Address: 1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/a, Hungary

Source: Űrtevékenység Magyarországon 2005 (Space Activities in Hungary), yearbook. Publisher: MANT, Budapest.

Researchers

Programme organiser and head of the research group: Bérczi Szaniszló, associate professor.

Our activities and results

The space research activity of our group belongs to space physics among the main directions of the Space Research Scientific Council, and to astrophysics in the NASA database. Our four working groups are the following:

• Lunar rocks and meteorites group: petrographic microscopy, geochemistry with an electron microprobe and other methods of materials analysis
• Planetology group: geomorphology of Solar System bodies, surface mapping
• Hunveyor group: building the experimental educational Hunveyor space probe, combining robotics with instrumented planetary geology, space-research education
• Space research and geometry group: methods of geometry and computer graphics, interactive spatial-representation programs, modelling of motions in cosmic space

Geomorphology, planetology, planetary maps

In the past year two new booklets appeared in our atlas series, which processes the study of Solar System bodies and presents the Solar System. The title of the eighth mini-atlas is Space Research and Chemistry, in which we take an excursion into the chemistry of all four states of matter. Since, beyond the chemistry known in the terrestrial environment, our space probes have also reached the surfaces of other planetary bodies and we have gradually become acquainted with their near-surface materials, it is worthwhile to enrich the relationship between space research and chemistry by turning terrestrial chemistry into a (planetary) comparative chemistry. This planetary comparative chemistry analyses the materials and processes of the surface environments of celestial bodies (just as comparative planetology analyses the surfaces of celestial bodies), thereby allowing an exciting rediscovery of traditional chemical knowledge and its extension in new directions. In our Space Research and Chemistry atlas we present these chemical “extensions” primarily for the planet Mars.

The title of the ninth mini-atlas is Planetary Research with Analogues and Simulations, in which we pair terrestrial analogues of materials, landforms, processes and other phenomena with the phenomena known on the planets, mainly on Mars and the Moon. The simulation experiments are carried out with the school robots of the Hunveyor-Husar model system of practice space probes. Our group has already visited several planetary analogue sites with the Hunveyors. On the European scale, the impact materials of the Mien and Ries craters, the Icelandic volcanoes and ice, and the Anatolian rock glaciers, as well as the meanders of Hungarian rivers, offer planetary parallels. (We published this mini-atlas in English.)

Our third volume appeared under the title The Mini-Encyclopedia of the Solar System. Forms of the Solar System (1): Processes, Traces and Effects of Impacts. It is a large data collection of scientific standard and a presentation and analysis of crater structure, morphology and formation. The 72-page (A4-size) volume was edited by Hargitai Henrik. Its publication was made possible by our two 2005 grants won from the Hungarian Space Office.

We continued our lecture series within the Planetology I and II courses announced by the Department of Physical Geography of the ELTE Faculty of Science. Members of the group also took part individually, with several papers, in the LPI/NASA LPSC conference.

We continued our work on the topic initiated by Horváth András, the research of the Martian dark spots (DDS). On the new MGS images we studied the seepages starting from the DDS. The details of this work are reported by the ESA-MAG working group. Our results were also presented at several conferences: the 36th LPSC in Houston, the 29th NIPR conference in Tokyo, and the 5th European Exo-Astrobiology Conference held in Budapest.

We continued the publication of the Central European series of planetary maps. This year the map of Phobos was completed under the editorship of Hargitai Henrik.

Space research, technical design and geometry

With a summary work, this working group filed a patent application on the possibilities of producing optimal spatial structures (containing two kinds of elements), suitable also for building a space station, using elements designed with the help of computer graphics, and on their use as a teaching aid in education.

Our activity in another field with a technical character is the following: we submitted 6 papers to the autumn 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference. The papers were prepared within a cooperation between the VT Patent Office (Varga Tamás Péter), a group of architects who call themselves “moon engineers” among themselves (Ferroelektric Engineering Pan Konceptum KFT., Boldoghy Béla and Kummert József) and our space research group (KAVUCS). We prepared designs on the technical conditions of building a Moon base and on various subtasks of the design of an economical Moon base that is energetically and technically feasible using local materials, and submitted papers based on them.

International cooperation

We reported on our work at several international and domestic conferences. The three most important were the 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, the 29th NIPR conference in Tokyo and the 5th European Exo-Astrobiology Conference held in Budapest. Our research group presented 15 papers (NASA), 3 (NIPR) and 2 (Exo-Astro-Bio) there. Our research group works with the following international contacts and partners:

• Department of Antarctic Meteorites, National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo (Japan)
• Planetary Materials Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas (USA)
• Yamaguchi University, Dept. of Chemistry and Earth Science, Yamaguchi (Japan)
• Babeș–Bolyai University, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), Transylvania, Romania

Other activities

We presented our cosmic-material collections in several lectures at the University of Pécs, the University of West Hungary (Sopron), the Székesfehérvár faculty of computer science of the Budapest Polytechnic named after Kandó Kálmán, and, among the towns of the country, in Sopron, Kiskunhalas, Szeged and Szekszárd. The doors are open to professional visitors and colleagues at the Tuesday-evening meetings of the Planetology and Meteoritics Subcommittee, and new university students are likewise welcome to join the Youth Space Research Group that builds the Hunveyor space probe.

Publications

Books and book chapters

• Bérczi Sz., Homonnay Z., Lukács B., Mörtl M., Weidinger T. (2005): Kis Atlasz a Naprendszerről (8): Űrkutatás és kémia. [Concise Atlas of the Solar System (8): Space Research and Chemistry.] ELTE TTK Kozmikus Anyagokat Vizsgáló Űrkutató Csoport, Budapest (ISBN 963 00 6314 XÖ, 963 86401 9 7)
• Szaniszló Bérczi, Tivadar Földi, Péter Gadányi, Arnold Gucsik, Henrik Hargitai, Sándor Hegyi, György Hudoba, Sándor Józsa, Ákos Kereszturi, János Rakonczai, András Sik, György Szakmány, Kálmán Török (2005): Concise Atlas on the Solar System (9): Planetary Analog Studies and Simulations: Materials, Terrains, Morphologies, Processes. (Szaniszló Bérczi, editor) ELTE TTK Kozmikus Anyagokat Vizsgáló Űrkutató Csoport, UNICONSTANT, Budapest-Püspökladány (ISBN 963 00 6314 XÖ, 963 86873 2 0)
• Hargitai H., Bérczi Sz., Gucsik A., Horvai F., Illés E., Kereszturi Á., Nagy Sz. J. (2005): A Naprendszer kisenciklopédiája. A Naprendszer formakincse (1) Becsapódások folyamatai, nyomai és hatásai. [The Mini-Encyclopedia of the Solar System. Forms of the Solar System (1): Processes, traces and effects of impacts.] ELTE TTK Kozmikus Anyagokat Vizsgáló Űrkutató Csoport. Budapest. [ISBN 963 463 795 7 ö (sorozat), ISBN 963 463 796 5 (1. kötet)]

Conference papers

• Horváth, A., Kereszturi, Á., Bérczi, Sz., Sik, A., Pócs, T., Gesztesi, A., Gánti, T., Szathmáry, E. (2005): Annual change of Martian DDS-seepages. #1128. LPI, Houston.
• T. Gánti, T. Pócs, Sz. Bérczi, Z. Ditrói-Puskás, A. Horváth, K. Gál-Solymos, M. Nagy, I. Kubovics (2005): Morphological observations of Martian spherules, comparisons to collected terrestrial counterparts. #2026. LPI, Houston.
• Sz. Bérczi (2005): Possibility of karst morphology on the Martian surface at the Meridiani landing site from comparison with terrestrial analogs. #1051. LPI, Houston.
• Bérczi Sz., Cech V., Józsa S., Szakmány Gy., Fabriczy A., Földi T., Varga T. (2005): How we used NASA Lunar Set in planetary material science analog studies on lunar basalts and breccias with industrial materials of steels and ceramics. #1282. LPI, Houston.
• B. Lukács, S. Józsa, Zs. Kovács, Gy. Szakmány, Sz. Bérczi (2005): How we used the Antarctic meteorite thin section set of NIPR to a synthesis of the thermal evolution of a chondritic body. #1300. LPI, Houston.
• Mészáros I., Hargitai H., Horváth A., Kereszturi A., Sik A., Bérczi Sz. (2005): Second unusual guidebook to terrestrial field work studies: astronauts with roving vehicle, robotic rovers on planetary surfaces (seventh concise atlas in the solar system series of textbooks at Eötvös University, Hungary). #1177. LPI, Houston.
• T. Földi, H. Hargitai, S. Hegyi, Gy. Hudoba, Zs. Kovács, F. Roskó, Sz. Tóth, A. Pintér, Sz. Bérczi (2005): Europa analog ice-splitting measurements and experiments with Ice-Hunveyor on the frozen Balaton-lake, Hungary. #1147. LPI, Houston.
• Szathmáry E., Horváth A., Bérczi Sz., Kereszturi Á., Pócs, T., Gesztesi A., Gánti T., Sik A. (2005): Candidates for Organisms on Mars on the basis of DDS, CBC, Desert varnish and cryoconite studies. 1. Mars Express Science Conference, ESTEC, Noordwijk, (21–25 February 2005).
• Bérczi Sz., Horváth A., Nagy B., Kereszturi Á., Sik A., Pócs T., Gesztesi A., Gánti T., Szathmáry E. (2005): Comparisons of Martian Flow-Streaks with DDS Origin and their Probable Counterparts on Antarctica. 29th NIPR Symposium Antarctic Meteorites, Tokyo, p. 3.
• Bérczi Sz., Józsa S., Kovács Zs., Lukács B., Szakmány Gy. (2005): Cross Sections of Chondritic Asteroids: Evolutionary Stages on the Basis of Studies of the NIPR Antarctic Meteorite Thin Section Set. 29th NIPR Symposium Antarctic Meteorites, Tokyo, p. 5.
• Hargitai H., Bérczi Sz. (2005): Meteorite Craters and Planetary Surface Evolution: An Educational Approach. 29th NIPR Symposium Antarctic Meteorites, Tokyo, p. 19.
• Szathmáry E., Horváth A., Sik A., Bérczi Sz., Gánti T., Pócs, T., Kereszturi Á. (2005): Signs of water runoff and its relation to possible living organisms on Mars. 5th EANA Workshop, Budapest, 2005 okt. 12.
• Pócs, T., Szathmáry E., Horváth A., Nagy B., Sik A., Bérczi Sz., Gánti T., Kereszturi Á. (2005): Extremophile cryptobiotic communities in cold and hot deserts. 5th EANA Workshop, Budapest, 2005 okt. 12.
• Boldoghy B., Kummert J., Bérczi Sz., Szilágyi I., Varga T. (2005): Functional program of buildings for conditions on the moon. 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference, Houston, #2006.
• Kummert J., Boldoghy B., Bérczi Sz., Szilágyi I., Varga T. (2005): Using the sun’s radiating energy for heat-storage as energy source of buildings on the moon. 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference, Houston, #2009.
• Bérczi Sz., Boldoghy B., Kummert J., Szilágyi I., Varga T. (2005): Use of lunar soil and lunar surface rocky materials in insulation of buildings on the moon. 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference, Houston, #2008.
• Kummert J., Boldoghy B., Bérczi Sz., Szilágyi I., Varga T. (2005): Organizational concept of buildings of levelled temperature interior space on the moon. 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference, Houston, #2007.
• Boldoghy B., Kummert J., Bérczi Sz., Varga T., Szilágyi I. (2005): Planning project for establishing buildings on the moon to be operated cost-effectively. 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference, Houston, #2005.
• Földi T., Bérczi Sz. (2005): Economic device system for extracting the dust and aerosols from the atmosphere of the permanent lunar or martian buildings. 7th Space Resources Roundtable Conference, Houston, #2071.

Researchers in alphabetical order

Bérczi Szaniszló, Cech Vilmos, Diósy Tamás, Ditrói-Puskás Zuárd, Drommer Bálint, Dudich Endre, Földi Tivadar, Gadányi Péter, Gál-Sólymos Kamilla, Gucsik Arnold, Gulyás Pálné, Györök György, Hargitai Henrik, Hegyi Sándor, Horváth András, Horváth Csaba, Hudoba György, Illés Erzsébet, Józsa Sándor, Kabai Sándor, Kereszturi Ákos, Kiss Szabolcs, Kovács Barna, Kovács Zsolt Imre, Kubovics Imre, Mészáros István, Mörtl Mária, Németh István, Pintér Ambrus, Póka Teréz, Roskó Farkas, Sasvári Gábor, Sáfár Attila, Sik András, Szakmány György, Szöőr Gyula, Tóth Albert, Tóth Szabolcs, Varga Tamás, Weidinger Tamás.