Electrical properties and porosity of the first meter of the nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Abstract

Context. Comets are primitive objects, remnants of the volatile-rich planetesimals from which the solar system condensed. Knowing their structure and composition is thus crucial for the understanding of our origins. After the successful landing of Philae on the nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014, for the first time, the Rosetta mission provided the opportunity to measure the low frequency electrical properties of a cometary mantle with the permittivity probe SESAME-PP (Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment−Permittivity Probe).