Since cosmic radiation alters surface composition, Curiosity can drill into rock to extract pristine material from below.
But over time, the white paint would be reflecting light and other electromagnetic radiation from its surface.
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Because of abundant solar ultraviolet radiation at the surface, organic molecules might not be preserved as well as clay minerals.
Its data may allow scientists to better understand and predict how various surface features absorb and reflect solar radiation, which influence both short-term weather patterns and longer-term climate trends.
Held in a scoop on the rover's mechanical arm, the tablespoon of pulverized gray rock offers planetary scientists their first sample from the planet's interior, where it may have been sheltered from the harsh surface chemistry and ultra-violet radiation.
The higher up they are, the cooler they are, and they dissipate less radiation, which means the surface stays warmer.
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That, in turn, results in an increased absorption of solar radiation by the darker ocean surface, which also contributes to warming.
Drilling a few centimetres inside a rock provides a fresh sample that is free from the alteration that can occur at the surface as a result of weathering or radiation damage.
"The first thing that happens when we add carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is it radiates some extra radiation back down to the surface, and we warm up a little bit, " Kirk-Davidoff says.
Radiation and turbulent fluxes dominate the surface energy balance.
The ozone layer protects living things on the Earth's surface from the Sun's ultra-violet radiation.
Since landing near the Martian equator last summer, Curiosity has continued to track radiation as it rolls across the dusty surface toward its eventual mountain destination.
Crops need a sheltered environment, protected from the extreme temperatures and frightening levels of radiation found on the moon's surface, with water, carbon dioxide and light.
The basic concept is the same as that underpinning the "white roads" idea -- the development of a technology that can reflect a proportion of the sun's radiation away from the earth's surface and back out into space, thereby cooling the atmosphere and slowing, or even reversing the damaging effects of global climate change.
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For example, the bright snow- and ice-covered landscapes of Canada and Siberia during winter reflect most solar radiation straight back into space, keeping the surface cold.
And water would be all the more exciting on Ganymede because it is the largest moon in the solar system (larger even than the planets Mercury and Pluto) and, like earth, it has a permanent magnetic field that protects part of its surface from bombardment by certain sorts of life-destroying radiation.
But the increased ultra-violet (UV) solar radiation which the damaged ozone allows through to the surface of the earth is a threat to all living things.
Solar energy can, of course, be gathered on Earth, but only about half of the sun's radiation ever makes it to the Earth's surface--the rest is either absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back by clouds.
Where the ice vanishes entirely, the surface loses its usual highly reflective whiteness - which sends most solar radiation back into space - and is replaced by darker waters instead which absorb more heat.
Certain elements on the surface emitted X-rays when the sun zapped Eros with an intense burst of radiation for 30 minutes on May 4.
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