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Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer: Enceladus Plume

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Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer: Enceladus Plume SPECIALSECTION and engineering unit calibrations (with the REPORT exception of H2O, NH3, and HCN, which were obtained from National Institute of Standards and Technology tabulations). These responses Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass were subsequently used in the deconvolution of the spectra. Because of the nature of the Spectrometer: Enceladus Plume electron-beam ionization source, the signal in each mass bin is a combination of the signals from the ionization or dissociative ionization of Composition and Structure several constituents. Spacecraft velocity and atti- tude are used to compute the ram flow enhance- 1 1 2 3 4 J. Hunter Waite Jr., Michael R. Combi, Wing-Huen Ip, Thomas E. Cravens, Ralph L. McNutt Jr., ment. From these data, a matrix is constructed 5 6 7 5 1 1 Wayne Kasprzak, Roger Yelle, Janet Luhmann, Hasso Niemann, David Gell, Brian Magee, relating instrumental response for various mass 1 6,8 2 Greg Fletcher, Jonathan Lunine, Wei-Ling Tseng channels to the atmospheric composition. Inver- sion of this matrix with suitable numerical The Cassini spacecraft passed within 168.2 kilometers of the surface above the southern methods (3) yields abundances for a range of hemisphere at 19:55:22 universal time coordinated on 14 July 2005 during its closest approach to constituents. The measurements (and matrix Enceladus. Before and after this time, a substantial atmospheric plume and coma were observed, elements) are weighted by the reciprocal mea- detectable in the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) data set out to a distance of over surement error. 4000 kilometers from Enceladus. INMS data indicate that the atmospheric plume and coma are The best fit to the atmospheric composition dominated by water, with significant amounts of carbon dioxide, an unidentified species with a based on the mass deconvolution (according to mass-to-charge ratio of 28 daltons (either carbon monoxide or molecular nitrogen), and methane. a reduced chi-squared metric) gives 91 T 3% T T Trace quantities (G1%) of acetylene and propane also appear to be present. Ammonia is present at H2O, 3.2 0.6% CO2,4 1% N2 or CO a level that does not exceed 0.5%. The radial and angular distributions of the gas density near (depending on the identity of the mass peak at T the closest approach, as well as other independent evidence, suggest a significant contribution to 28 daltons), and 1.6 0.4% CH4,wherethe the plume from a source centered near the south polar cap, as distinct from a separately measured error estimates are the larger of the fit range or more uniform and possibly global source observed on the outbound leg of the flyby. the 1s statistical error of the fit and do not include systematic errors from factors such as calibration, which may be as high as 20% he INMS instrument on the Cassini tained with the closed source. In the closed (Table 1). Statistically meaningful residuals in spacecraft, pointing within 60- of the source, the neutral gas flows into a spherical the mass ranges 14 to 17 and 26 to 27 daltons Tdirection of motion of the spacecraft antechamber where it thermally accommodates suggest that there may also be trace quantities and traveling with a relative velocity of È8km with the walls before flowing through a transfer (GÈ1%) of ammonia, acetylene, hydrogen cya- sj1 to Enceladus, was able for the first time tube to an electron ionization source and is nide, and propane. to investigate the composition and spatial dis- ionized by electron impact at 70 eV. The high The signal-to-noise ratio in the mass-18 tribution of gases in the plume and coma flyby velocity of the Cassini spacecraft with channel (predominantly the H2Osignature)is surrounding Enceladus (Fig. 1). Previous close respect to Enceladus (È8kmsj1) produces a sufficient within 4000 km of Enceladus to in- flybys of Enceladus (G4000 km) by the Cassini dynamic pressure enhancement in the ante- vestigate how the water vapor density varies spacecraft have all been carried out with INMS chamber that increases sensitivity (1, 2), but at along the track of the spacecraft (Fig. 3). In Fig. pointed in the anti-ram direction of motion of a reduced level because of the 60- orientation 3, we also compare the water vapor density with the spacecraft, thereby precluding possible mea- of the sensor with respect to the ram direction the density of dust particles greater than 2 mm surements of any neutral gases associated with of the spacecraft_s motion. in size inferred from the Cassini Cosmic Dust Enceladus. The spectrum displayed in Fig. 2 indicates a Analyzer (CDA) (4). There is noticeable asym- The Cassini INMS is a dual–ion source mass scan covering the range 1 to 99 daltons. metry with respect to the closest approach in both quadrupole mass spectrometer covering the The individual mass spectra that were used to data sets and a reasonable correlation between mass-to-charge ranges 0.5 to 8.5 and 11.5 to form the spectrum were acquired every 4.6 s them, but with an offset of 32 s. Furthermore, 99.5 daltons (1, 2). The dual-source design com- for the time period when the spacecraft was water vapor density variations well above the bines classic closed– and open–ionization source closer than 500 km to the surface of Enceladus. level of expected statistical variation suggest spa- configurations that measure inert species and The spectra have been added to enhance the tial and/or temporal structure of the outgassing reactive species and ions, respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio. The background subtrac- source. Moreover, the spatial variability and the primary data reported in this paper were ob- tion for ingress and egress data are treated asymmetry of the water vapor and dust distribu- separately to account for changes observed well tions with respect to closest approach (Fig. 3) 1Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, before and well after the Enceladus flyby. The suggest an association with the southern ther- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. primary constituents H2O, CO2,N2 or CO, and mal hot spot (5, 6). 2Institutes of Astronomy and Space Science, National CH are evident from the primary mass peaks The mass spectrum obtained by INMS can be 3 4 Central University, Chung Li 32054, Taiwan. Department at 18, 44, 28, and 16 daltons, respectively. Mass used to understand the origin and evolution of the of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. 4Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns peaks are also measured for the minor atmo- interior of Enceladus. The inferred surface 5 Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723, USA. NASA spheric species (C2H2 and C3H8). Other species pressure of the atmosphere (properly an exo- Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. that could be present at a level G0.5% include sphere) lies between 10j1 and 10j4 nanobars, 6 Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, NH and HCN. such that collisions and subsequent gas-phase Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. 7Space Science Laboratory, 3 University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. 8Istituto The responses of all of the measurable chemical reactions play a minor role within the di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, Via del Fosso del product channels of the primary constituents of atmospheric plume. Furthermore, the ionization Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy. interest were determined during the flight unit and dissociation time constants (hours at a www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 311 10 MARCH 2006 1419 CASSINI AT ENCELADUS Fig. 1. View of Enceladus showing Table 1. Composition of the gas plume and surface features and the Cassini coma associated with Enceladus. The minimum ground track during the flyby on and maximum values represent the range of 14 July 2005. The south polar hot values associated with adopting different com- spot is shown in red, amidst the positional mixtures. The standard deviation surface feature known as the tiger represents the largest statistical uncertainty stripes. The spacecraft trajectory is associated with the fit of each constituent. shown in yellow. The colors of the points along the trajectory repre- Species Minimum Maximum SD sent Cassini’s closest approach to H2O 0.9070 0.9150 0.0300 Enceladus (purple), the closest ap- CO 0.0314 0.0326 0.0060 proach to the southern polar hot 2 Mass 28 (CO or N2) 0.0329 0.0427 0.0100 spot (red), the point along the track CH 0.0163 0.0168 0.0040 where INMS saw the maximum 4 water vapor density (black), and the point along the track where the CDA saw the peak in dust particle by Voyager imaging, ammonia has been a density (green). The direction of preferred substance for lowering the melting motion of the spacecraft (ram direc- point of water ice and increasing its buoyancy tion) is represented by the arrowhead on the trajectory. SC, spacecraft. so as to aid or enable resurfacing (11). Am- monia was reported to have been detected as a very weak hydrate feature in one ground- Fig. 2. Average mass based near-infrared spectroscopic observation spectrum for altitudes be- of Enceladus (12) but not in another (13). Our low 500 km. The solid failure to detect ammonia suggests either that it black line indicates the measured average spec- is not involved in the subsurface mechanisms trum and the red symbols that created the plume or that aqueous chemis- represent the reconstructed try within the interior source regions of the spectrum. The error bars plume effectively converts NH3 to N2 before it displayed are the larger can be exposed to or ejected from the surface. of the 20% calibration We can, however, virtually rule out chemical uncertainty or the 1s sta- complexing of some or all of the NH3 with the tistical uncertainty.
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