To increase the yield of this project, the S, M and L experiments will be supported by theoretical calculations. Therefore, a thermophysical model will be developed based on the experience already available in the D-A-CH group. In the first year of the project, the thermophysical model will be set up, tested and compared to similar models available in the cometary science community. With the start of the S experiments, the developed model will aid in preparing and conducting the experiments (e.g., by calculations of the heat distribution inside the sample). As soon as the first S experiments have been completed, their results will be transferred to the modelers in order to verify that the models correctly predict the various outcomes. Once this has been done, planning of the M experiments can take advantage of the model by running various possible scenarios to choose the most promising for the next phase. This logical sequence will be also used to perform the transition from the M to the L experiments, so that the model can correctly predict the findings of the various L experiments.

Thus, the objectives of the modeling efforts in this project are: 1) to derive the physical processes (material and heat transport, phase changes, local changes in mechanical, optical and electromagnetic properties) occurring inside complex dust-ice mixtures under insolation; 2) to aid planning subsequent stages of S, M and L experiments by forward calculating modeling to the anticipated setups; 3) to finally apply the developed model to real cometary conditions and provide answers to the main scientific questions addressed in Sect. 2.2.