Solar System observations with Herschel

International audienceThe full opening of the submillimeter range with the operation of Herschel will provide a new window for the study of Solar System objects. The main area of anticipated progress will be the study of water and related chemistry in planetary and cometary atmospheres. The photochemistry of the martian atmosphere, the origin of water in the outer planets, and the mechanisms of water sublimation and radiative transfer in comets will be investigated in details. Several other compositional aspects, notably the D/H ratio in Mars, the Giant Planets, and comets, will also be studied by Herschel. Photometric measurements of small bodies will be performed, to characterize the size and albedo distribution in the Kuiper Belt