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Topic · Astronomy and Astrophysics

Planetary Science and Exploration

Planetary Science and Exploration is a research topic within Astronomy and Astrophysics. Science Explorer counts 54k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the exploration and study of Mars, including the Martian surface, planetary exploration missions, the search for water and signs of life, the Martian climate, minerals found on Mars, and the composition of the Martian atmosphere.

  • Mars
  • Martian Surface
  • Planetary Exploration
  • Water on Mars
  • Martian Climate
  • Mars Orbiter Missions
  • Martian Minerals
  • Life in Extreme Environments
  • Surface Composition
  • Martian Atmosphere
Research works
54k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
37% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Planetary Science and Exploration

Which countries lead Planetary Science and Exploration research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.5k and 1.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.5k works
  2. 2 China 1.4k works
  3. 3 France 584 works
  4. 4 Italy 393 works
  5. 5 Germany 391 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 364 works
  7. 7 Russia 361 works
  8. 8 Japan 344 works
  9. 9 India 290 works
  10. 10 Canada 168 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 37.3%China: 19.9%France: 8.6%Italy: 5.8%6 others listed: 28.3%37%largest
United States2,527 · 37.3%China1,350 · 19.9%France584 · 8.6%Italy393 · 5.8%6 others listed1,919 · 28.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Planetary Science and Exploration research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Planetary Science and Exploration research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 306 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 260 works
  3. 3 National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationUnited States 237 works
  4. 4 California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 215 works
  5. 5 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 201 works
  6. 6 National Institute for AstrophysicsItaly 118 works
  7. 7 Planetary Science InstituteUnited States 112 works
  8. 8 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 92 works
  9. 9 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 77 works
  10. 10 University of Colorado BoulderUnited States 72 works

Who are the leading researchers in Planetary Science and Exploration?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Planetary Science and Exploration include Xiaogang Wang, Michael Snyder and Kai You Wang.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Michael Snyder United States 224k citations
  3. 3 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  4. 4 William A. Goddard United States 182k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Planetary Science and Exploration?

The most cited paper in Planetary Science and Exploration is "The Gaia mission" (T. Prusti et al., 2016), with 7,118 citations. Next come "Distribution of the Elements in Some Major Units of the Earth's Crust" (5,632) and "Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol" (5,023).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Gaia mission T. Prusti et al. · Astronomy and Astrophysics Open access625 authors 15 Sep 2016 7,118
2 Distribution of the Elements in Some Major Units of the Earth's Crust Karl K. Turekian, Karl Hans Wedepohl · Geological Society of America Bulletin 1961 5,632
3 Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol Andrew Sean Murray, ANN G. WINTLE · Radiation Measurements Feb 2000 5,023
4 Solar System Abundances and Condensation Temperatures of the Elements K. Lodders · The Astrophysical Journal Open access 10 Jul 2003 4,845
5 On the Isotopic Chemistry of Carbonates and a Paleotemperature Scale J. M. McCrea · The Journal of Chemical Physics Jun 1950 3,749
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Planetary Science and Exploration research done?

The largest centres of Planetary Science and Exploration research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Paris (France), Pasadena (United States) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in North Laurel, Noordwijk-Binnen and Greenbelt.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 548 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 249 works
  3. 3 PasadenaUnited States 222 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 217 works
  5. 5 TucsonUnited States 177 works
  6. 6 RomeItaly 159 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 155 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 106 works
  9. 9 BoulderUnited States 97 works
  10. 10 CologneGermany 88 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. North LaurelUS · 62.0 works127×
  2. Noordwijk-BinnenNL · 34.8 works110×
  3. GreenbeltUS · 75.9 works102×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Planetary Science and Exploration than the world average.

See Planetary Science and Exploration on the map

Where is the best place to study Planetary Science and Exploration?

Among universities, judged by research, Université du Québec à Montréal, California Institute of Technology and Macau University of Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%25%50%75%mean 20.21%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Université du Québec…University of ArizonaMacau University of …California Institute…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Université du Québec à MontréalCanada 61.162.3%5.0×8 +112.4%
2California Institute of TechnologyUnited States 54.512.2%86.3×215 -17.3%
3Macau University of Science and TechnologyChina 52.812.3%21.1×31 +29.9%
4University of ArizonaUnited States 50.015.5%12.5×56 +3.8%
5Université Paris CitéFrance 49.619.7%4.5×23 +27.8%
6Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 49.514.5%8.1×38 +5.0%
7University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 48.812.8%5.6×63 +137.5%
8Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 47.812.1%7.2×77 -1.9%
9Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 47.015.1%5.2×59 +78.7%
10Université Côte d'AzurFrance 47.025.6%22.6×22 -16.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Planetary Science and Exploration, country by country

Is Planetary Science and Exploration research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2015. The fastest-growing topics are Planetary Science and Exploration.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Planetary Science and Exploration as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.034% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%Planetary Science and Exploration0.032% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Planetary Science and Exploration over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Planetary Science and Exploration9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who leads planetary science and space exploration research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Planetary Science and Exploration research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.5k and 1.4k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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