Europa Lander Mission Shut Out Again
Mission type | Astrobiology |
---|---|
Operator | NASA |
Website | www |
Mission elapsing | ≤ 22 days on the surface [one] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Lander |
Launch mass | 16.6 metric tons [1] |
Power | fifty kWh (from batteries simply) [1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch appointment | 2025-2030 (proposed)[2] |
Rocket | Space Launch System or a commercial rocket |
Europa lander | |
Large strategic science missions |
The Europa Lander is a proposed astrobiology mission concept by NASA to send a lander to Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.[iii] [four] If funded and developed as a large strategic science mission, it would exist launched in 2027 to complement the studies past the Europa Clipper orbiter mission and perform analyses on site.[5]
The objectives of the mission are to search for biosignatures at the subsurface ≈10 cm, to characterize the composition of non-ice near-subsurface fabric, and decide the proximity of liquid water and recently erupted textile near the lander'south location.
History [edit]
NASA had previously evaluated a Europa Lander concept in 2005 with the Europa Lander Mission concept.[6] Also, a lander was evaluated in 2012.[vii] At that place was connected support for Europa missions, including in 2014, when the U.S. Congress Business firm Appropriations Committee announced a bipartisan bill that included U.s.a.$80 meg in funding to continue the Europa mission concept studies.[8] [nine]
The United States Congress issued a congressional directive on a Europa Lander, and NASA initiated a written report in 2016, assessing and evaluating the concept.[3] The mission concept is being supported by the Ocean Worlds Exploration Programme.[10] NASA'due south Planetary Science Division delivered its written report in early February 2017.[3] This was a half-dozen-month-long study by a Science Definition Team.[11] [12] The study assesses the science value and engineering pattern of a potential Europa lander mission.[12]
NASA's 2021 fiscal year budget in Congress'due south Motorbus Spending Nib did not include whatever language mandating or funding the Europa Lander as previous bills making the mission's time to come uncertain.[13]
The Europa Lander was considered past the Planetary Science Decadal Report of 2023-2032 only rejected in favor of the Uranus Orbiter and Probe and Enceladus Orbilander.[14]
Overview [edit]
The primary mission goal is detection of organic indicators of past or present life, called biosignatures.[fifteen] [iii] [sixteen] The lander was described every bit a logical follow-up to the Galileo orbiter and probe mission in the 1990s, for which a major result was the discovery of a large sub-surface sea that may offer habitable aquatic weather condition.[11]
On Earth life can exist found in essentially all locations where water is present. It follows that Europa is an excellent candidate in the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System.[17] This subsurface h2o may not only be warmed by geological activity, simply likely also enriched with dissolved minerals and organic compounds.[18]
Diverse ecosystems exist on Earth without whatever access to sunlight relying instead on hydrothermal vents or other sources of chemicals suitable to energy product past extremophiles[nineteen] (meet chemosynthesis). Measurements to date point that Europa has an body of water approximately twice the book of Earth's oceans. This water layer below the ice may exist in contact with the moon's interior allowing ready access to hydrothermal free energy and chemistry.[iii] A surface mission can take reward of the relatively immature, active surface of Europa as this activity may let deep subsurface materials to regularly relocate to the surface.[xx]
Status [edit]
In xviii July 2017, the House Infinite Subcommittee held hearings on the Europa Clipper as a scheduled large strategic scientific discipline mission and to discuss this lander every bit a possible follow upwardly.[21] The president'southward 2018 and 2019 federal budget proposals do not fund the Europa Lander, but they did assign US$195 1000000[22] for concept studies[23] [24] and research on the required scientific discipline instruments.[25] The 2022 omnibus spending bill allocates $14.2 million for Icy Satellites Surface Technology for a time to come Ocean Worlds lander mission (Nasa had requested $5 one thousand thousand for the Europa Lander).[26]
Objectives [edit]
The lander mission would take three primary science objectives:[27]
- Search for biosignatures.
- Assess the habitability of Europa via in situ techniques uniquely available to a landed mission.
- Narrate the surface and subsurface properties at the calibration of the lander to back up future exploration of Europa.
Spacecraft [edit]
The key phases of the flight are: launch, cruise, de-orbit, descent and landing.[28] The spacecraft would consist of several modules that would be discarded at different phases of its deorbiting and landing sequence. The complete stack would be propelled by the Carrier Phase, that also features the solar panels.[one] After orbit injection around Jupiter, the spacecraft would spend about two years adjusting its orbit and velocity before attempting to land on Europa.[one]
In preparation to its landing, the Carrier Stage would be discarded, leaving the spacecraft stack in a configuration called Deorbit Vehicle (DOV) that would decelerate and initiate the descent. The engine module for this phase, chosen Deorbit Stage (DOS) would be discarded after the burn, leaving what is chosen the Powered Descent Vehicle (PDV) - which comprises the lander and the sky crane arrangement. The heaven crane arrangement would lower the lander with a tether to a soft landing with a 100 m (330 ft) accuracy.[1]
The lander would feature a robotic arm with five degrees of freedom, that would enable information technology to dig out several shallow sub-surface samples at a maximum depth of 10 cm (3.9 in) and evangelize them to its onboard laboratory.[1]
Ability [edit]
In one case landed, the lander would operate for up to 22 days by using chemical battery ability, rather than a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) or solar ability.[ane] [12] [24] The 2019 concept proposes four batteries, which would provide three times the needed energy for safe margin during its ≈22-twenty-four hours surface operations.[one] The baseline is 7 days to complete its surface mission, the additional fifteen days are for contingencies.[i]
Regardless of the power source, one of the limiting factors for the lifetime of the mission may be surviving radiations; the surface of Europa is estimated to experience two.three Mrad[1] or 540 rem per day, whereas a typical Earth surface dose is near 0.fourteen rem/year.[29] Radiations damaged the electronics of the Galileo orbiter during its mission.[30]
Launch and trajectory [edit]
The launcher would be the Infinite Launch Arrangement (SLS), with a suggested launch in 2025.[ane] [31] The SLS is proposed given the spacecraft's mass of 16.vi metric tons, including the solid propellant to place the spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter, and the sky crane landing system.[32] I calculated trajectory would run across a launch aboard SLS in 2025, Earth gravity assist in 2027, and Jupiter/Europa inflow in 2030.[12] It would spend some time orbiting around Jupiter over the next year to maneuver for its landing on Europa.[12] The landing would be performed two years after orbit insertion around Jupiter.[1]
Landing sites [edit]
At Europa, it would take to land on the surface, matching its velocity, but with essentially no atmosphere there is no "entry", it is just a descent and landing.[28] The Planetary Society noted that NASA called this DDL — de-orbit, descent, and landing.[28] In 1995, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered that Europa has a very tenuous exosphere composed of oxygen.[33] Compared to Earth, its atmosphere is thin to the farthermost, with force per unit area at the surface predicted to be 0.one μPa, or 10−12 times that of the Globe.[34]
The lander would communicate directly to World, but the Europa Clipper, if still operational, could function as an additional communications relay for the lander.[28] To ensure communication, there is a suggestion to include a telecomm orbiter with the lander mission.[35]
- Surface texture
A report published in October 2018 suggests that most of Europa'due south surface may exist covered with closely spaced ice spikes, called penitents, as tall as 15 meters (50 ft).[36] [37] Although the imaging available from the Galileo orbiter does not accept the resolution needed to confirm this, radar and thermal information are consistent with this interpretation.[37] This supports the demand to first perform high-definition reconnaissance with the ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper, launching in 2023 and 2024 respectively, before planning a lander mission.[37] [38]
Science payload [edit]
The mission concept would require funding and further evolution to exist launched. One of the key requirements is to operate in the radiation environment at the moon'south surface.[xi] [ane] The radiations surround at Europa is extreme, so the lander may need additional protection every bit the Juno Radiation Vault in the Juno Jupiter orbiter.[39] The vault helped reduce radiations exposure to vulnerable systems, especially electronics on the orbiter.
NASA announced in May 2017 to the scientific community to think on possible Europa Lander instruments.[40] The concept study reports were made available in June 2019.[41]
NASA selected 14 potential instruments for maturation under Musical instrument Concepts for Europa Exploration 2 (ICEE-2) application approximately The states$2 million each for two years.[25] The ICEE-two project would allow the maturation of novel musical instrument approaches to run into the science goals and objectives of the mission.
Instrument | Principal investigator |
---|---|
C-LIFE: Cold-Lightweight Imagers for Europa | Shane Bryne, University of Arizona |
ELSSIE: Europa Lander Stereo Spectral Imaging Experiment | Scott Fifty. Murchie, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory |
CORALS: Characterization of Ocean Residues and Life Signatures | Ricardo D. Arevalo, University of Maryland |
MASPEX-ORCA: MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration-ORganic Composition Analyzer | Christopher R. Glein, Southwest Enquiry Institute |
MOAB: Microfluidic Organic Analyzer for Biosignatures | Richard A. Mathies, University of California Berkeley |
EMILI: Europan Molecular Indicators of Life Investigation[42] | West. B. Brinckerhoff, Goddard Infinite Flight Center |
CIRS: Compact Integrated Raman Spectrometer | James L. Lambert, Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
ELM: Europa Luminescence Microscope | Richard Quinn, Ames Research Heart |
SIIOS: Seismometer to Investigate Ice and Ocean Structure[43] | Samuel H. Bailey, University of Arizona |
ESP: Europa Seismic Package | Marking P. Panning, Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
MICA: Microfluidic Icy-Earth Chemistry Analyzer | Antonio J. Ricco, Ames Research Center |
MAGNET: Radiation Tolerant Magnetometer | Mark B. Moldwin, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
EMS: Europa Magnetotelluric Sounder | Robert East. Grimm, Southwest Inquiry Found |
CADMES: Collaborative Acceptance and Distribution for Measuring Europan Samples Arrangement | Charles A. Malespin, Goddard Space Flying Middle |
Planetary protection [edit]
Planetary protection guidelines crave that inadvertent contamination of a Europan body of water by terrestrial organisms must be avoided, to a probability level of less than 1 in 10,000.[fifteen] [44] The lander, and landing organization components, must be assembled and tested in a clean room where all parts would have to exist cleaned or sterilized before they are installed in the spacecraft. After delivering the lander, the heaven crane is recommended to fly abroad into Jupiter for disposal.[45] At the end of the mission, the lander might self-destruct using an incendiary device.[15] That system can as well be triggered, if the spacecraft loses contact with the Earth.[32]
Europa Clipper [edit]
The Europa Clipper is a separately launched spacecraft that would lay a foundation for the Europa Lander mission.[three] Previously, NASA had evaluated launching the orbiter and lander together, but the strong congressional back up led to an boosted proposal in 2016 for a separate lander mission.[46] The Clipper orbiter will provide reconnaissance data to characterize the radiation environment and assist determine a landing location.[47]
See also [edit]
- Europa Orbiter – Canceled orbiter mission to Europa by NASA
- Galilean moons – Four largest moons of Jupiter
- Juno (spacecraft) – NASA infinite probe orbiting the planet Jupiter
- Laplace-P – Proposed Russian spacecraft to study the Jovian moon system and country on Ganymede
- Ocean Worlds Exploration Program – NASA program for the exploration of h2o worlds in the Solar Organization
References [edit]
- ^ a b c d due east f g h i j k l m northward o Europa Lander Mission Concept Overview Grace Tan-Wang, Steve Sell, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, AbSciCon2019, Bellevue, Washington - June 26, 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ Voosen, Paul (29 May 2019). "Without a champion, Europa lander falls to NASA's back burner". Science | AAAS . Retrieved 26 Baronial 2021.
- ^ a b c d due east f "NASA Receives Science Report on Europa Lander Concept". NASA/JPL. Retrieved 15 February 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ Foust, Jeff (18 July 2017). "JPL moves ahead with Mars and Europa missions despite funding uncertainty". SpaceNews.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (16 December 2019). "NASA to receive US$22.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2020 spending nib". SpaceNews.
- ^ "Small RPS-Enabled Europa Lander Mission" (PDF). NASA–JPL. xiii Feb 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2006. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ "Europa Lander Study: Louise Prockter for Brian Cooke and the Europa study squad" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 Jan 2017. Retrieved ix September 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ Khan, Amina (15 Jan 2014). "NASA gets some funding for Mars 2020 rover in federal spending bill". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Girardot, Frank C. (14 Jan 2014). "JPL'due south Mars 2020 rover benefits from spending bill". Pasadena Star-News.
- ^ Hendrix, Amanda R.; Hurford, Terry A.; Barge, Laura M.; et al. (2019). "The NASA Roadmap to Bounding main Worlds". Astrobiology. xix (1): ane–27. Bibcode:2019AsBio..19....1H. doi:ten.1089/ast.2018.1955. ISSN 1531-1074. PMC6338575. PMID 30346215. S2CID 53043052.
- ^ a b c Schulze-Makuch, Dirk (13 February 2017). "A New Lander Concept for Europa". Air & Space/Smithsonian . Retrieved fifteen February 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Foust, Jeff (14 February 2017). "Report lays out science case for Europa lander". SpaceNews.
- ^ Howell, Elizabeth. (22 December 2020). "NASA receives Us$23.three billion for 2021 fiscal twelvemonth in Congress' autobus spending nib". Infinite.com.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (19 April 2022). "Planetary science decadal endorses Mars sample return, outer planets missions". SpaceNews. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ a b c Europa Lander Report 2016 Report, NASA, 2016
- ^ Foust, Jeff (14 February 2017). "Report lays out scientific discipline case for Europa lander". SpaceNews. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ Pandey, Avaneesh (9 February 2017). "NASA Report Sheds Low-cal On Europa Lander Mission". Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ Coldewey, Devin (nine February 2017). "NASA'southward concept Europa lander belongs on the cover of a sci-fi pulp". TechCrunch. Retrieved ix September 2017.
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- ^ "FY19 Appropriations Bills: NASA". American Institute of Physics. twenty June 2018.
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- ^ a b Foust, Jeff (29 March 2018). "Europa lander concept redesigned to lower cost and complication". SpaceNews.
- ^ a b c ICEE-2 Overview. Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA Joel Krajewski, Payload Managing director, Europa Lander PreProject 26 June 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ Smith, Marcia (10 March 2022). "NASA to Get $24 Billion for FY2022, More than Last Year But Less Than Biden Wanted". spacepolicyonline.com.
- ^ Update on the Europa Lander Mission Concept Cynthia B. Phillips, Kevin P. Paw, Morgan 50. Cable, Amy Due east. Hofmann, Kate L. Craft and Europa Project Science and Engineering science Teams. 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2132)
- ^ a b c d Davis, Jason (21 February 2017). "NASA'due south audacious Europa missions are getting closer to reality". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ Ringwald, Frederick A. (29 February 2000). "SPS 1020 (Introduction to Space Sciences)". California State University, Fresno. Archived from the original on twenty September 2009. Retrieved 5 Jan 2014.
- ^ "Galileo Millennium Mission Status". NASA/JPL. Retrieved 9 September 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ Foust, Jeff (17 Feb 2019). "Final fiscal year 2019 budget bill secures US$21.5 billion for NASA". SpaceNews.
- ^ a b Foust, Jeff (31 March 2017). "Europa lander work continues despite budget dubiety". SpaceNews. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
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- ^ McGrath (2009). "Atmosphere of Europa". In Pappalardo, Robert T.; McKinnon, William B.; Khurana, Krishan K. (eds.). Europa. Academy of Arizona Printing. ISBN978-0-8165-2844-8.
- ^ Telecommunications systems for the NASA Europa missions. Microwave Symposium (IMS), 2017 IEEE MTT-Southward International, 4–9 June 2017, doi:10.1109/MWSYM.2017.8058576
- ^ Anderson, Paul Scott (20 October 2018). "Europa may accept towering ice spikes on its surface". Earth and Sky.
- ^ a b c Germination of metre-scale bladed roughness on Europa's surface by ablation of ice Daniel East. J. Hobley, Jeffrey M. Moore, Alan D. Howard, and Orkan M. Umurhan, Nature Geoscience 8 Oct 2018 doi:10.1038/s41561-018-0235-0
- ^ Jagged ice spikes cover Jupiter'south moon Europa, study suggests The Washington Post, 23 October 2018
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- ^ "NASA Asks Scientific Community to Think on Possible Europa Lander Instruments". NASA. 17 May 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ Europa Lander Home Folio at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) NASA Accessed on 22 September 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
- ^ EMILI: Europan Molecular Indicators of Life Investigation W. B. Brinckerhoff; A. Grubisic; South. A. Getty; R. M. Danell, ASCE Library, 16th Biennial International Conference on Applied science, Scientific discipline, Structure, and Operations in Challenging Environments
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External links [edit]
- EL docs from NASA
- Europa Lander Investigation – Acquisition homepage at NASA
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Lander
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