Investigating Europa’s Habitability with the Europa Clipper
Jupiter’s moon Europa is one the most promising candidates for hosting life today among ocean worlds in the solar system.
In its investigation of Europa’s habitability, the Europa Clipper mission seeks to understand the provenance of water, essential chemical elements and compounds, and energy, and how they might combine to make this moon’s environments suitable to support life. Modified from a pre-Europa Clipper mission study report (Europa Study Team 2012)
The habitability of Europa is a property within a system, which is driven by a multitude of physical and chemical processes and is defined by many interdependent parameters, so that its full characterization requires collaborative investigation.
To explore Europa as an integrated system to yield a complete picture of its habitability, the Europa Clipper mission has three primary science objectives:
(1) characterize the ice shell and ocean including their heterogeneity, properties, and the nature of surface–ice–ocean exchange;
(2) characterize Europa’s composition including any non-ice materials on the surface and in the atmosphere, and any carbon-containing compounds; and
(3) characterize Europa’s geology including surface features and localities of high science interest.
Jupiter’s moon Europa is one the most promising candidates for hosting life today among ocean worlds in the solar system. In its investigation of Europa’s habitability, the Europa Clipper mission seeks to understand the provenance of water, essential chemical elements and compounds, and energy, and how they might combine to make this moon’s environments suitable to support life. Modified from a pre-Europa Clipper mission study report (Europa Study Team 2012)
The mission will also address several cross-cutting science topics including the search for any current or recent activity in the form of thermal anomalies and plumes, performing geodetic and radiation measurements, and assessing high-resolution, co-located observations at select sites to provide reconnaissance for a potential future landed mission.
Synthesizing the mission’s science measurements, as well as incorporating remote observations by Earth-based observatories, the James Webb Space Telescope, and other space-based resources, to constrain Europa’s habitability, is a complex task and is guided by the mission’s Habitability Assessment Board (HAB).
Investigating Europa’s Habitability with the Europa Clipper, Springer Link (open access)
Astrobiology
