The Galilean Satellites: January 1610 Galileo’s sketches JPL Solar System Simulator Revealing Europa’sOcean Robert T . Pappalardo Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology
Mosaic by Ted Stryk
2012 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.
Oceans Come and Go, and Return Again Pioneer 10 Views Europa (1973)
1971–1977: Early satellite oceans
Arcturus proposed from thermal-compositional models [Lewis, Consolmagno, Fanale]
Late 1979–1983: Tidal heating might maintain oceans, but convection of overlilying i ce mi ihtfght freeze oceans [Cassen, Peale, Reynolds, Squyres]
Neptune 1989: Tidal heating of Europa’s Pioneer 10 JPL Eyes on the Solar System ice could be sufficient to maintain a conductive ice shell above a global Scan by imaging photopolarimeter ocean [Ojakangas & Stevenson] Dec. 3, 1973, ~200 km/pixel [Reynolds & Cassen., 1979]
Voyagers View Europa (1979) Galileo Orbital Tour (1996-1999)
Few large impact craters - young surface or “relaxation”? End of Galileo Europa Mission Mottled terrain 31 Dec. 1999 - internal activity or only impacts? Bright, lineated plains - crustal mobility [Schenk & Seyfert, 1980; Schenk & McKinnon, 1989]
12 Europa Encounters 9 “Non-Targetted” Encounters
Voyager 1 (20 km/pixel) Voyager 2 (2 km/pixel)
1 Galileo’s First Views of Europa (1996)
Pits (endogenic?) Spots (volcanic?) Age brightening Nonsynchronous rotation Crustal mobility
Galileo Imaging Team (1996) Color composite by Paul Geissler
Europa’s Surface Europa’s Interior
ridged plains chaotic terrain
Europa’s Magnetic Interactions Ridges
Art by Michael Carroll
Mosaic by Ryan Sicilia
2 Ridge Formation Models Bands
shear heating
[courtesy L. Prockter]
Impacts Surface Composition
Pwyll Tyre
Non-ice candidates: - Sulfate salts
(MgSO4 • nH2O) - Sulfuric acid
(H2SO4 • nH2O)
Lenticulae (Freckles) Icy Lava Lamp?
T = 100 K cold, stiff ice
warm, flowing ice
Mosaic by Ryan Sicilia T = 260 K [courtesy A. Barr]
3 Icebergs? Chaos
[Schmidt et al., 2011] 270 m
Europa: Ingredients for Life? Understanding Europa’s Habitability: Key Issues Water: More than 2x all of Earth’s oceans Essential elements: From formation and impacts • Ocean: Existence, extent, and salinity Chemical energy: Potentially from above and below • Ice Shell: Existence and nature of water Stability: Variable, but “simmering” for 4 billion years within or beneath, and nature of surface- ice-oceaoceaecagen exchange
• Composition: Distribution and chemistry of key compounds and the links to ocean composition
• Geology: Characteristics and formation of surface features, including sites of recent or current activity “Black smoker” on Earth’s ocean floor Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Looking Forward: Europa Clipper
Operations Concept: Science: - 32 low altitude flybys of Europa from Jupiter Clipper orbit over 2.3 years Objective Enhanced w Recon Ocean - Detailed investigation of globally distributed Ice Shell regions of Europa Composition - Simple repetitive science operations Geology - Landing site reconnaisance capability Recon
Langmuir Probe Magnetometer (LP) (x2) Payload: (Mag)
Clipper Recon Camera Instrument Neutral Mass (Recon) Enh w Recon Spectrometer (NMS) IPR Thermal Imager (Thermal) Floor SWIRS Gravity Science Antenna (GS) TI Technical Margins NMS Shortwave Infrared Spectrometer 39% 40% 75% MAG (SWIRS) LP Mass Power Data Baseline Ice Penetrating GS Radar(IPR) Recon Topographical Cost: $2.0B Imager (TI) Thermal $FY15, Phases A-E Excl LV Copyright 2012 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. 10/16/2012 Pre-Decisional — For Planning and Discussion Purposes Only 23
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