Publications & PhDs

Below are listed publications related to the Comet Interceptor mission and its instruments that appear in peer-reviewed scientific journals and conference proceedings. For general articles, please refer to the "In The Media" section accessible via the menu above.

Papers
2026

C. Snodgrass, E. Mazzotta Epifani, C. Tubiana, J. P. Sánchez, N. Biver, L. Inno, M. M. Knight, P. Lacerda, J. De Keyser, A. Donaldson, N. J. T. Edberg,
M. Galand, A. Guilbert Lepoutre, P. Henri, S. Kasahara, H. Kawakita, R. Kokotanekova, M. Kueppers, M. Micheli, M. Pajusalu, M. Rubin, N. Sakatani,
and K. Yoshioka Considerations on the process of target selection for the Comet Interceptor Mission Icarus, 447 id.116887 (2026) 10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116887

2025

Suzuki, Yudai, Yoshioka, Kazuo, Masunaga, Kei, Kawakita, Hideyo, Shinnaka, Yoshiharu, Murakami, Go, Kimura, Tomoki, Tsuchiya, Fuminori, Yamazaki, Atsushi & Yoshikawa, Ichiro Contribution of multiple scattering to the Lyman alpha radiance distribution in cometary comae Icarus, 441 id.116720 (2025) 10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116720
Dorsey, Rosemary C., Hopkins, Matthew J., Bannister, Michele T., Lawler, Samantha M., Lintott, Chris, Parker, Alex H. & Forbes, John C. The Visibility of the Ōtautahi–Oxford Interstellar Object Population Model in LSST The Planetary Science Journal, 6, 9 id.214 25 pp. (2025) 10.3847/PSJ/adf8ca
Ivano Bertini, Jean-Baptiste Vincent, Raphael Marschall, Fiorangela La Forgia, Alessandra Mura, Laura Inno, Stavro Ivanovski, Michael Küppers, Cecilia Tubiana & Vladimir Zakharov A composite phase function for cometary dust comae, Icarus, 265, id.106164 (2025) 10.1016/j.pss.2025.106164
Nico Haslebacher, Nicolas Thomas, Omar Mokhtari, Raphael Marschall, Fabrice Cipriani, Rocco Arpa, Fredrik L. Johansson & Philippe Reynier The cometary model of dust environments (ComMoDE), CEAS Space Journal (2025) 10.1007/s12567-025-00641-8
Joan Pau Sanchez & Colin Snodgrass, Analysis of Trajectories of 3I/ATLAS with a Comet Interceptor-like Spacecraft, Research Notes of the AAS, 9, 7 (2025) 10.3847/2515-5172/adf4c4
Lewis, Z. M., Stephenson, P., Beth, A., Galand, M., Kallio, E., Moeslinger, A. Cometary ion dynamics at 67P: a collisional test-particle approach with Rosetta data comparison Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 541, 4 pp.3590-3605 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf1162
Jan Deca, Andrey Divin, Peter Stephenson, Pierre Henri, Marina Galand, Austin Smith, A fully kinetic perspective on weakly active comets: Asymmetric outgassing, Icarus, 258 id.106064 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2025.106064
Yudai Suzuki, Kazuo Yoshioka, Kei Masunaga, Hideyo Kawakita, Yoshiharu Shinnaka, Go Murakami, Tomoki Kimura, Fuminori Tsuchiya, Atsushi Yamazaki, Ichiro Yoshikawa Contribution of multiple scattering to the Lyman alpha radiance distribution in cometary comae, Icarus, 441 id.116720 (2025) 10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116720
Snodgrass, C., Holt, C.E., Kelley, M.S.P., Opitom, C., Guilbert-Lepoutre, A., Knight, M.M., Kokotanekova, R., Jehin, E., Mazzotta Epifani, E., Migliorini, A., Tubiana, C., Micheli, M., and Farnocchia, D. First JWST spectrum of distant activity in long-period comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 541, 1, pp.L8-L13, 6pp. (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaf046
Piccirillo, A.M., Della Corte, V., Rotundi, A., Inno, L., Bertini, I., Cozzolino, F., Ferone, A., Fiscale, S., Longobardo, A., Ferretti, S., Ammannito, E., Grappasonni, C., Sindoni, G., Emerland, Z., Sylvest, M., Patel, M.R., Ertel, H., Millinger, M., and Rothkael, H., A light dust shield, including aerogel, for DISC instrument on board ESA's Comet Interceptor mission: numerical simulations and Ballistic Limit Equation, CEAS Space Journal (2025) https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/link_gateway/2025CEAS..tmp...55P/doi:10.1007/s12567-025-00627-6
Moreno, F., Goetz, C., Aceituno, F. J., Casanova, V., Sota, A., Santos-Sanz, P., Dust environment of long-period comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 539, 949-955 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf552
Lacerda, P., Guilbert-Lepoutre, A., Kokotanekova, R., Inno, L., Epifani, E. Mazzotta, & Snodgrass, C., Secular brightness curves of 272 comets, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 697, A210 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202453565
Skog, K., Kohout, T., Kašpárek, T., Penttilä, A. Wolfmayr, M., Praks, J. Lossless Hyperspectral Image Compression in Comet Interceptor and Hera Missions with Restricted Bandwith Remote Sensing, Volume 17, Issue 5 id.899 (2025) https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17050899
De Keyser, J. Edberg, N. J. T., Henri, P., Rothkaehl, H., Della Corte, V., Rubin, M., Funase, R., Kasahara, S., Snodgrass, C. Optimal choice of closest approach distance for a comet flyby: Application to the Comet Interceptor mission, Planetary and Space Science, 256, 13, pp. 1-13 (2025) 106032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2024.106032
Inno, L., Scuderi, M., Bertini, I., Fulle, M., Mazzotta Epifani, M., Della Corte, V., Piccirillo, A. M., Vanzanella, A., Lacerda, P., Grappasonni C., Ammanito, E., Sindoni, G., Rotundi, A. How much earlier would LSST have discovered currently known long-period comets? Icarus, Volume 429, 116443 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116443

2024

Holt, C. E., Knight, M. M., Kelley, M. S. P., Lister, T., Ye, Q. (叶泉志), Snodgrass, C., Opitom, C., Kokotanekova, R., Schwamb, M. E., Dobson, M. M., Bannister, M. T., Micheli, M., Milam, S. N., Richardson, D. C. (The LCO Outbursting Objects Key (LOOK) Project), Gomez, E., Chatelain, J. P., Greenstreet, S. Brightness Behaviour of Distant Oort Cloud Objects, The Planetary Science Journal, Volume 5, 273 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ad8e38
Stephenson, P., Galand, M., Deca, J., Henri, P., Cold electrons at a weakly outgassing comet, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 529, Issue 3 pp. 2854–2865 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae695
Haslebacher, N., Thomas, N., Marschall, R, Spectral ratioing of 𝐴𝑓𝜌 to constrain the dust particle size distribution of comets, Planetary and Space Science 248 (2024) 105925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2024.105925
Bergman, S., Kasahara, S., Stenberg Wieser, G., Spacecraft potential effects on low-energy ion measurements to be made by probe B1 of Comet Interceptor, RAS Techniques and Instruments, Volume 3, Issue 1 pp. 333–346 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1093/rasti/rzae021
De Keyser, J., Edberg, N. J. T., Henri, P., Auster, H.-U., Galand, M., Rubin, M., Nilsson, H. Soucek, J., André, N, Della Corte, V., Rothkaehl, H., Funase, R., Kasahara, S., Corral Van Damme, C., In situ plasma and neutral gas observation time windows during a comet flyby: Application to the Comet Interceptor mission, Planetary and Space Science 244 (2024) 105878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2024.105878
Jones, G. H., Snodgrass, C., Tubiana, C., Küppers, M., Kawakita, H., Lara, L. M., Agarwal, J., André, N., Attree, N., Auster, U., Bagnulo, S., Bannister, M., Beth, A., Bowles, N., Coates, A., Colangeli, L., Corral van Damme, C., Da Deppo, V., De Keyser, J., Della Corte, V., Edberg, N., El-Maarry, M. R., Faggi, S., Fulle, M., Funase, R., Galand, M., Goetz, C., Groussin, O., Guilbert-Lepoutre, A., Henri, P., Kasahara, S., Kereszturi, A., Kidger, M., Knight, M., Kokotanekova, R., Kolmasova, I., Kossacki, K., Kührt, E., Kwon, Y., La Forgia, F., Levasseur-Regourd, A.-C., Lippi, M., Longobardo, A., Marschall, R., Morawski, M., Muñoz, O., Näsilä, A., Nilsson, H., Opitom, C., Pajusalu, M., Pommerol, A., Prech, L., Rando, N., Ratti, F., Rothkaehl, H., Rotundi, A., Rubin, M., Sakatani, N., Sánchez, J. P., Simon Wedlund, C., Stankov, A., Thomas, N., Toth, I., Villanueva, G., Vincent, J.-B., Volwerk, M., Wurz, P., Wielders, A., Yoshioka, K., Aleksiejuk, K., Alvarez, F., Amoros, C., Aslam, S., Atamaniuk, B., Baran, J., Barciński, T., Beck, T., Behnke, T., Berglund, M., Bertini, I., Bieda, M., Binczyk, P., Busch, M.-D., Cacovean, A., Capria, M. T., Carr, C., Castro Marín, J. M., Ceriotti, M., Chioetto, P., Chuchra-Konrad, A., Cocola, L., Colin, F., Crews, C., Cripps, V., Cupido, E., Dassatti, A., Davidsson, B. J. R., De Roche, T., Deca, J., Del Togno, S., Dhooghe, F., Donaldson Hanna, K., Eriksson, A., Fedorov, A., Fernández-Valenzuela, E., Ferretti, S., Floriot, J., Frassetto, F., Fredriksson, J., Garnier, P., Gaweł, D., Génot, V., Gerber, T., Glassmeier, K.-H., Granvik, M., Grison, B., Gunell, H., Hachemi, T., Hagen, C., Hajra, R., Harada, Y., Hasiba, J., Haslebacher, N., Herranz De La Revilla, M. L., Hestroffer, D., Hewagama, T., Holt, C., Hviid, S., Iakubivskyi, I., Inno, L., Irwin, P., Ivanovski, S., Jansky, J., Jernej, I., Jeszenszky, H., Jimenéz, J., Jorda, L., Kama, M., Kameda, S., Kelley, M. S. P., Klepacki, K., Kohout, T., Kojima, H., Kowalski, T., Kuwabara, M., Ladno, M., Laky, G., Lammer, H., Lan, R., Lavraud, B., Lazzarin, M., Le Duff, O., Lee, Q.-M., Lesniak, C., Lewis, Z., Lin, Z.-Y., Lister, T., Lowry, S., Magnes, W., Markkanen, J., Martinez Navajas, I., Martins, Z., Matsuoka, A., Matyjasiak, B., Mazelle, C., Mazzotta Epifani, E., Meier, M., Michaelis, H., Micheli, M., Migliorini, A., Millet, A.-L., Moreno, F., Mottola, S., Moutounaick, B., Muinonen, K., Müller, D. R., Murakami, G., Murata, N., Myszka, K., Nakajima, S., Nemeth, Z., Nikolajev, A., Nordera, S., Ohlsson, D., Olesk, A., Ottacher, H., Ozaki, N., Oziol, C., Patel, M., Savio Paul, A., Penttilä, A., Pernechele, C., Peterson, J., Petraglio, E., Piccirillo, A. M., Plaschke, F., Polak, S., Postberg, F., Proosa, H., Protopapa, S., Puccio, W., Ranvier, S., Raymond, S., Richter, I., Rieder, M., Rigamonti, R., Ruiz Rodriguez, I., Santolik, O., Sasaki, T., Schrödter, R., Shirley, K., Slavinskis, A., Sodor, B., Soucek, J., Stephenson, P., Stöckli, L., Szewczyk, P., Troznai, G., Uhlir, L., Usami, N., Valavanoglou, A., Vaverka, J., Wang, W., Wang, X.-D., Wattieaux, G., Wieser, M., Wolf, S., Yano, H., Yoshikawa, I., Zakharov, V., Zawistowski, T., Zuppella, P., Rinaldi, G., & Ji, H. (2024), The Comet Interceptor Mission, Space Science Reviews, 220, 9, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-023-01035-0
Rebelo, M.; Sánchez, J. P., Optimizing launch window opportunities for ESA's comet Interceptor mission using primer vector theory,
Acta Astronautica, Volume 219, pp. 340-352, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.03.006

2023

Vigren, E.; Eriksson, A. I.; Edberg, N. J. T.; Snodgrass, C., A potential aid in the target selection for the comet interceptor mission, Planetary and Space Science, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2023.105765
Costa, Henrique R.; da Silva Pais Cabral, Francisco; Villa, Victor Manuel Moreno; Gil, Paulo J. S., The Comet Interceptor Mission-Making a case for Solar Electric Propulsion, Acta Astronautica, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.04.050
Fulle, Marco; Bockelée-Morvan, Dominique; La Forgia, Fiorangela, A possible selection criterion of the target of Comet Interceptor mission, Advances in Space Research, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2022.12.047
Della Corte, V.; Ferretti, S.; Piccirillo, A. M.; Zakharov, V.; Di Paolo, F.; Rotundi, A.; Ammannito, E.; Amoroso, M.; Bertini, I.; Di Donato, P. and 15 more, DISC - the dust impact sensor and counter on-board Comet Interceptor: Characterization of the dust coma of a dynamically new comet, Advances in Space Research, 2023 DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2023.01.049
N. J. T. Edberg, A. I. Eriksson, H. Nilsson, H. Gunell, C. Götz, I. Richter, P. Henri, and J. De Keyser, Scale size of cometary bow shocks, A&A, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202346566, 2023
Lewis, Z., A. Beth, K. Altwegg, A. Eriksson, M. Galand et al. (2023), Origin and trends in NH4+ observed in the coma of 67P, MNRAS, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1787.
S. Bergman, Y. Miyake, S. Kasahara, F. L. Johansson, and P. Henri (2023), Spacecraft Charging Simulations of Probe B1 of Comet Interceptor during the Cometary Flyby, ApJ, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad0ce5

2022

Marschall, Raphael; Zakharov, Vladimir; Tubiana, Cecilia; Kelley, Michael S. P.; van Damme, Carlos Corral; Snodgrass, Colin; Jones, Geraint H.; Ivanovski, Stavro L.; Postberg, Frank; Della Corte, Vincenzo and 5 more, Determining the dust environment of an unknown comet for a spacecraft flyby: The case of ESA's Comet Interceptor mission, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2022 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202243648
Machuca, P.; Ozaki, N.; Sánchez, J. P.; Felicetti, L., Dust impact and attitude analysis for JAXA's probe on the Comet Interceptor mission, Advances in Space Research, 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2022.05.070
Haslebacher, Nico; Gerig, Selina-Barbara; Thomas, Nicolas; Marschall, Raphael; Zakharov, Vladimir; Tubiana, Cecilia, A numerical model of dust particle impacts during a cometary encounter with application to ESA's Comet Interceptor mission, Acta Astronautica, 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.02.023
Preda, Valentin; Hyslop, Andrew; Bennani, Samir, Optimal science-time reorientation policy for the Comet Interceptor flyby via sequential convex programming, CEAS Space Journal, 2022 DOI: 10.1007/s12567-021-00368-2
N. J. T. Edberg, F. L. Johansson, A. I. Eriksson, E. Vigren, P. Henri, J. de Keyser, Radial distribution of plasma at comet 67P: implications for cometary flyby missions, A&A, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202243776, 2022

2021

Sánchez, Joan Pau, David Morante, Pablo Hermosin, Daniel Ranuschio, Alvaro Estalella, Dayana Viera, Simone Centuori, Geraint Jones, Colin Snodgrass, Anny Chantal Levasseur-Regourd, CeciliaTubiana, ESA F-Class Comet Interceptor: Trajectory design to intercept a yet-to-be-discovered comet, Acta Astronautica, Volume 188, November 2021, Pages 265-277. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.07.014 [Preprint]
D. C. Boice, H. Kobayashi, H. Kawakita, and Yoshiharu Shinnaka (2021) Relevant Coma Composition Investigations for the Comet Interceptor Mission, Res. Notes AAS 5 88, DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/abf4b8

2020

Schwamb, M. E, Knight, M. M, Jones, G. H., Snodgrass, C., Bucci, L., Sánchez Pérez, J. M., Skuppin, N., and for the Comet Interceptor Science Team, Potential Backup Targets for Comet Interceptor, Research Notes of the AAS, Volume 4, Number 2 (2020). doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ab7300. [Open Access]

2019

Snodgrass, C., Jones, G. H. The European Space Agency’s Comet Interceptor lies in wait. Nat. Commun. 10, 5418 (2019). doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13470-1. [Open Access]

PhD Theses

2024

Haslebacher, Nico (2024) Studies of cometary dust environments in the context of the Comet Interceptor mission, PhD thesis, Universität Bern

2021

Suzuki, Y. (2023) Development of methods for estimating surface composition from observing surface-bounded exospheres, PhD thesis (Science), The University of Tokyo
Brydon, George F. (2021) Spin-scanning Cameras for Planetary Exploration: Imager Analysis and Simulation. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London). [Available online]