Galileo buzzes Europa
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Galileo buzzes Europa
On Sunday Galileo executed a close flyby of Europa
for the last time during the current mission.
Feb 2, 1999:
JPL scientists reported yesterday that the Galileo spacecraft
executed a close flyby of Europa on Sunday, passing a scant 894
miles above the surface of Jupiter's frozen moon. Early indications
are that the maneuver was a success and that all scientific data
were stored on the spacecraft's tape recorder for later playback.
Right: Artist Duane Hilton's concept of Galileo as it
flies by Europa on Jan. 31, 1999.
This latest flyby is the last of a series that began in late-1997
as part of the extended Galileo-Europa Mission (GEM). Scientists
are intrigued by Europa because of mounting evidence that a liquid
ocean exists beneath its frozen surface. Although the moon's
surface temperature is a chilly -260° F it's possible that
warmth from a tidal tug of war with Jupiter and neighboring moons
could be keeping large parts of Europa's ocean liquid. Tidal
friction from Jupiter is also thought to be responsible for volcanic
activity on Europa's neighbor Io. 
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A geologically older, smoother surface, bluish in tone, underlies the ridge system. The blue surface is composed of almost pure water ice, whereas the composition of the dark, brownish spots and ridges is not certain. One possibility is that they contain mineral salts in a matrix of high water content.
Right: A close up view of the volcanic ridges
and areas of blue that scientists believe are frozen water on
Europa.
Surf's up on Europa
Galileo will continue to study Europa from a distance during the second half of the Galileo Europa Mission, but no additional close flybys are planned. However, NASA scientists have several projects in the planning stages to explore Europa from close range.
One is the Europa Orbiter. It would use a radar sounder to study Europa's icy surface and attempt to determine the thickness of the ice and whether liquid water exists below the ice. Other instruments to study the surface and interior would include an imaging device with multiple filters to map the surface at a resolution of 100 meters and an altimeter to measure the topography and characterize the tidal response of the surface. The mission could launch in 2003 and would serve as a precursor to spacecraft that would actually send undersea explorers into the Europan oceans.
Left:
Artist's concept of an undersea explorer on Europa. The hydrobot
would map the undersea terrain and look for life near volcanic
vents. Image credit: JPL
Another intriguing proposal is the Europa Ice Clipper. The Ice
Clipper is a flyby mission designed to obtain samples of Europa's
surface by dropping hollow copper spheres onto the icy surface
of the moon. After dropping the 10 kg spheres, the spacecraft
would swing around and fly through the plume of surface material
created by the impact. Surface debris would be captured by an
aerogel collector similar
to the one that will used by the Stardust spacecraft to capture
particles from a comet. Like Stardust, the Ice Clipper would
return its samples to Earth for analysis. (Editor's note:
Stardust is scheduled
for launch on Feb. 6, 1999. It will rendevous with Comet Wild-2
in the year 2004.)
Other missions on the drawing board include Icepick, the Europa
Ocean Observer, and the Europa
Lander. So far only the Europa
Orbiter has been funded. It will serve as an important precursor
to future missions to Jupiter's enigmatic moon.
Above: These images reveal the dramatic
topography of Europa's icy crust. North is to the right. An east-west
running double ridge with a deep intervening trough cuts across
older background plains. The numerous cracks and bands may indicate
where the crust has pulled apart and sometimes allowed dark material
from beneath the surface to well up. A computer generated three
dimensional perspective shows that bright material, probably
pure water ice, prevails at the ridge crests and slopes while
most dark material is confined to lower areas such as valley
floors. More
information from the Planetary Photojournal.
Galileo Europa Mission status - Feb. 1, 1999, from JPL
Galileo Europa Mission status - Jan. 27, 1999, from JPL
Evidence for slush beneath the surface of Europa - from JPL and Brown University
Galileo home page at JPL, with the latest on Europa
Jet Propulsion Laboratory home page
NASA Office of Space Science - news and research
Related Stories:3 Dec. 1998The frosty plains of Europa
22 Oct. 1998Callisto makes a big splash
02 Oct. 1998Galileo gets a close-up view of mysterious Europa
12 March 1998Exotic-looking microbes turn up in ancient Antarctic ice
13 March 1998Space Tether may be best way to explore Europa
05 March 1998: Clues to possible life on Europa may lie buried in Antarctic ice
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Headlinesreturn to Space Science News Home
Author: Dr.
Tony Phillips & JPL press releases
Curator: Bryan Walls
NASA Official: John M. Horack