Investigating the Surface Composition of Europa with the Europa Clipper
Abstract
The composition of Europa's ice and non-ice surface materials provides important clues for understanding the habitability of this icy world. A fraction of the non-ice surficial material may be sourced from beneath the ice shell, suggesting possible transport between the internal ocean and surface. A fraction of it, however, may be exogenically sourced, accumulating atop the ice shell. Telescopic observations and previous missions, including Voyager and Galileo, have provided tantalizing clues about the composition and origin of Europa's distinctive surface materials. However, many questions remain, including: What is(are) the specific composition(s) of the non-ice material(s) on Europa's surface? How does the composition of the non-ice material vary spatially and how does it correlate with surface morphological features? What roles do Europa's radiation and plasma environments play in processing this material? What are the chemical pathways between the ocean and surface?
The Europa Clipper mission will constrain these questions with a robust suite of instruments, providing answers that will aid in constraining the habitability of Europa's ocean through composition. To make the most of these measurements, the Europa Clipper Composition Working Group (CWG) has been established to facilitate communication and make plans for rapidly sharing and integrating data during the course of the mission. Though all of the Europa Clipper investigations will provide critical input in regards to understanding the Europa's composition, MISE, Europa-UVS, MASPEX, and SUDA are explicitly designed to investigate the phase and elemental composition of the surface and/or exosphere (including plumes) and will constrain the origin of surface materials. Coupled with high-resolution EIS panchromatic and color observations, data from these instruments may be traced back to surface regions and specific landforms to understand the relative contributions of endogenic and exogenic materials to Europa's surface composition. We will present an overview of the types of different compositional data sets that will be obtained by Europa Clipper, as well as how they can be combined to address questions about the interior and surface composition. We will discuss laboratory experiments that could improve our understanding of the data implications.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.P53D3495K
- Keywords:
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- 0726 Ice sheets;
- CRYOSPHERE;
- 6207 Comparative planetology;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6221 Europa;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6282 Enceladus;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS