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Europa mission starts with selection of instruments
Emily Bills for redOrbit.com – @emilygbills
Gearing up for a long trek to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, NASA has selected 9 scientific instruments to help investigate the icy surface to see if it’s suitable for life. If predictions are on the money, the ocean beneath Europa’s frozen crust could have twice as much water as Earth and could technically harbor some life.
“Europa has tantalized us with its enigmatic icy surface and evidence of a vast ocean, following the amazing data from 11 flybys of the Galileo spacecraft over a decade ago and recent Hubble observations suggesting plumes of water shooting out from the moon,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
Last year, NASA invited folks to come up with ideas for instruments to study Europa. Thirty-three were reviewed overall, but only 9 were chosen. We warn you: although NASA is the king of acronyms, these instruments have some pretty shitty names and could sound a lot cooler, (though ICEMAG has a sort of ring to it).
Without further ado, the 9 chosen instruments are…
1. Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS) This instrument is the ultimate key in determining the thickness of the ice shell covering the moon, the ocean depth, and its salinity. It works closely with a magnetometer and will correct the magnetic induction signal for the plasma currents on Europa.
2. Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) This lil guy will probe the surface composition, seeking salts, organics, and water ice phases for mapping.
3. Interior Characterization of Europa using Magnetometry (ICEMAG) A magnometer that’s in cahoots with PIMS, it uses multi-frequency electromagnetic sounding to find Europa’s oceans.
4. Europa Imaging System (EIS) This instrument has wide and narrow camera angles to map most of Europa at 50-meter resolution, while some areas will be up to 100 times better resolution.
5. Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON) It’s a dual-frequency ice penetrating instrument ready to uncover the structure of Europa’s ice crust.
6. Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS) Seeking out heat, this fella will provide NASA with high spatial resolution and multi-spectral thermal imaging to help deactivate vents from potentially doing their thing.
7. MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX) This bad boy will measure the atmosphere of Europa, as well as any material ejected into space, in order to figure out the composition of the ocean’s surface and subsurface.
8. Ultraviolet Spectrograph/Europa (UVS) Using the same technique as the Hubble Telescope, the UVS will seek out water plumes erupting from Europa’s surface, collecting data on the atmosphere.
9. SUrface Dust Mass Analyzer (SUDA) Kinda like the UVS, this instrument will measure the solid projectiles coming off Europa, and will allow NASA to sample the surface of the planet on low-altitude flybys.
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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113397362/europa-mission-starts-with-selection-of-instruments-052615/
