“Copyright © 2017 by ASWATH. Published by The Mars Society with permission.” Exploration-Probe to Jupiter Moon Europa Aswath Suresh1, Sri Harsha2, Kolluri Surya3, Debrup Laha1, Dhruv Gaba1, Siddhant Bhambri4, Suvaansh Bhambri5 and Karthik Rangarajan1 1New York University, Brooklyn, New York, USA 2San Francisco State University, Holloway Ave, San Francisco, CA 3Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana, India 4Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering, India 5Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee - Haridwar Highway, Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667 ( aswathashh10, sriharsha.yerrabelli, surya.aryan.9,[email protected], gabadhruv1, siddhantbhambri,suvaansh2008bhambri )@gmail.com Abstract: The human civilization has reached a point in its progression, where inhabiting planets other than Earth is fast becoming a necessity. Jupiter’s moon Europa appears to be an ideal target for colonizing due to the research indicating favorable conditions for human survival and habitation. Europa, or JII, is the smallest of the Galilean satellites. It is slightly smaller than the Moon. It has a surface made of ice (H2O) that is three miles thick. The temperature of the ice on the surface is 90(+ 10) K. Scientists believe that this icy surface was created by gases escaping from the center of the satellite to outside the surface. It is also believed that, in its earlier stages, Europa's surface was 75 km thick. However, the interior's high temperatures have melted away some of the surface from the inside. It has also been speculated that underneath the surface, there are oceans of liquid water and that conditions may be favorable for the Europa to support life. This paper describes in detail an innovative, cost efficient and safe exploration mission to Europa. The design of the launch vehicle rocket will be based on that of GSLV MK III which was designed by ISRO. The GSLV MK III offers a dual advantage of being cost effective while having a high success rate. One of the important challenges of the mission is developing a trajectory to safely land the spacecraft/explorer to its target. The spacecraft will continue in a Hohmann type trajectory which has enough velocity to reach orbital velocity around Europa. After an estimate of 688 days after departure from earth’s low orbit, the spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter. It is important to note that Jupiter’s gravitational field can create a problem for sending probes to one of the satellites. The spacecraft will be designed to withstand the atmosphere of both Jupiter and Europa. If we can make a shield to withstand Jupiter’s harmful atmosphere, we can use the dense atmosphere of Jupiter as aero brakes for the spacecraft. Once optimum speeds are reached, we can proceed to enter Europa’s atmosphere. It is important to note that this whole procedure might take up more energy than required for just a brake system, in which case, the process of using Jupiter’s atmosphere for aero brake assist can be skipped. We propose two alternate designs for the spacecraft. The first one is to use a heavy, yet compact drilling enabled spacecraft that can drill a hole and dive into the sub-surface ocean entirely. If we use this design, an additional satellite dish needs to be added, which will revolve around Europa and communicate with Earth and the explorer simultaneously. Another option is to use a mini-station design, which will completely enter Europa’s surface, yet only parts of it will dive into the sub-surface ocean. The rest will stay on the ground and communicate with Earth. Composite material based heat shield which can withstand nearly 2500 degree Celsius and a parachute landing system will be used to safely land the explorer on the Surface of Europa. The spacecraft explorer will be designed with an intelligent drilling system, which will help it to drill into the moon’s surface, after which the required parts of the spacecraft can enter the water. The scientific instruments on the spacecraft will conduct deep sea exploration for signs of life and conditions for human habitation. The “Copyright © 2017 by ASWATH. Published by The Mars Society with permission.” implementation of a mission based on this idea will most definitely begin a new chapter in the history of space exploration and pave new ways for the survival of the human civilization. 1 Introduction Europa is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter as shown in Figure 1, along with Io, Ganymede and Callisto. Astronomer Galileo Galilei gets the credit for discovering these moons, among the largest in the solar system. Europa is the smallest of the four but it is one of the more intriguing satellites. The surface of Europa is frozen, covered with a layer of ice, but scientists think there is an ocean beneath the surface. The icy surface also makes the moon one of the most reflective in the solar system. Water plumes were spotted jetting from the moon in 2013, although those observations have not been repeated. Several spacecraft have done flybys of Europa (including Pioneers 10 and 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 in the 1970s). The Galileo spacecraft did a long-term mission at Jupiter and its moons between 1995 and 2003. Both NASA and the European Space Agency plan missions to Europa and other moons in the 2030s. [1] Figure 1: The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute A. Facts about Europa Age: Europa is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old, about the same age of Jupiter. Distance from the sun: On average, Europa's distance from the sun is about 485 million miles (or 780 million kilometers). “Copyright © 2017 by ASWATH. Published by The Mars Society with permission.” Distance from Jupiter: Europa is Jupiter's sixth satellite. Its orbital distance from Jupiter is 414,000 miles (670,900 km). It takes Europa three and a half Earth-days to orbit Jupiter. Europa is tidally locked, so the same side faces Jupiter at all times. Size: Europa is 1,900 miles (3,100 km) in diameter, making it smaller than Earth's moon, but larger than Pluto. It is the smallest of the Galilean moons. Temperature: Europa's surface temperature at the equator never rises above minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 160 degrees Celsius). At the poles of the moon, the temperature never rises above minus 370 F (minus 220 C). B. Discovery Galileo Galilei discovered Europa on Jan. 8, 1610. It is possible that German astronomer Simon Marius (1573-1624) also discovered the moon at the same time. However, he did not publish his observations, so it is Galileo who is most often credited with the discovery. For this reason, Europa and Jupiter's other three largest moons are often called the Galilean moons. Galileo, however, called the moons the Medicean planets in honour of the Medici family. It is possible Galileo actually observed Europa a day earlier, on Jan. 7, 1610. However, because he was using a low- powered telescope, he couldn't differentiate Europa from Io, another of Jupiter's moons. It wasn't until later that Galileo realized they were two separate bodies. The discovery not only had astronomical, but also religious implications. At the time, the Catholic Church supported the idea that everything orbited the Earth, an idea supported in ancient times by Aristotle and Ptolemy. Galileo's observations of Jupiter's moons — as well as noticing that Venus went through "phases" similar to our own moon — gave compelling evidence that not everything revolved around the Earth. As telescopic observations improved, however, a new view of the universe emerged. The moons and the planets were not unchanging and perfect; for example, mountains seen on the moon showed that geological processes happened elsewhere. Also, all planets revolved around the sun. Over time, moons around other planets were discovered — and additional moons found around Jupiter. Marius, the other "discoverer," first proposed that the four moons be given their current names, from Greek mythology. But it wasn't until the 19th century that the moons were officially given the so-called Galilean names we know them by today. All of Jupiter's moons are named for the god's lovers (or victims, depending on your point of view). In Greek mythology, Europa was abducted by Zeus (the counterpart of the Roman god Jupiter), who had taken the form of a spotless white bull to seduce her. She decorated the “bull” with flowers and rode on its back to Crete. Once in Crete, Zeus then transformed back to his original form and seduced her. Europa was the queen of Crete and bore Zeus many children. C. Characteristics of Europa A prominent feature of Europa is its high degree of reflectivity. Europa's icy crust gives it an albedo — light reflectivity — of 0.64, one of the highest of all of the moons in the entire solar system. Scientists estimate that Europa’s surface is about 20 million to 180 million years old, which makes it fairly young. Pictures and data from the Galileo spacecraft suggest Europa is made of silicate “Copyright © 2017 by ASWATH. Published by The Mars Society with permission.” rock, and has an iron core and rocky mantle, much like Earth does. Unlike the interior of Earth, however, the rocky interior of Europa is surrounded by a layer of water and/or ice that is between 50 and 105 miles (80 and 170 km) thick, according to NASA. From fluctuations in Europa's magnetic field that suggests a conductor of some sort, scientists also think there is an ocean deep beneath the surface of the moon.