“With a dedicated radiation monitoring unit, and using opportunistic radiation data from its instruments, Europa Clipper will help reveal the unique and challenging radiation environment on Jupiter,” said Jun.
Nordheim focused on “chaos fields” on Europa, namely areas where blocks of surface material appear to break apart, rotate and move to new positions, in many cases maintaining pre-existing linear fracture patterns.
Deep beneath the moon’s icy surface lies a vast ocean of liquid water, scientists say, that could offer a habitable environment for life. Several areas on Europa’s surface show evidence of material transport from the subsurface to the surface. “We need to understand the context of how radiation changes the material,” Nordheim said. “This can change the chemical makeup of the material.”
Heat Power
Because Europa’s oceans are locked within a layer of ice, any form of life would not be able to depend directly on the Sun for energy, as plants do on Earth. Instead, they require alternative energy sources, such as heat or chemical energy. Radiation descending on Europa’s surface may help provide such a source by creating oxidants, such as oxygen or hydrogen peroxide, when the radiation interacts with the surface ice layer.
Over time, these oxidants can move from the surface to the deep ocean. “The surface can be a window into the subsurface,” Nordheim said. A better understanding of those processes could provide the key to uncovering more secrets of Jupiter’s system, he added: “Radiation is one of the things that makes Europa so interesting. That’s part of the story.”
More About Missions
The main science goal of Europa Clipper is to determine whether there are places beneath Jupiter’s icy moon Europa that could support life. The mission’s three primary science objectives are to determine the thickness of the lunar ice sheet and the interaction of its surface with the underlying ocean, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The Europa mission’s detailed exploration will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds beyond our planet.
More information about Europa can be found here:
europa.nasa.gov
2023-10-24 18:41:26
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