Europa: Surface and Interior

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Europa Surface and Interior

• Martin Hilchenbach, Hermann Böhnhardt, Björn
  Grieger et al.
• MPS Lindau

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Europa - Icy Moon

• Potential surface and interior observations
• Tidal stresses and respones (diurnal tides,
  nonsynchronous rotation, 1 m (no ocean) to 30 m
  (ocean) tides)
• Mechanical response (cracking and crack
  propagation)
• Visible Features (patterns and time sequences of
  apparent tectonic features)
• Exosphere composition, sources and sinks, time
  variation
• Magnetic field and plasma measurements (induced
  fields, salty ocean)

Cycloidal patterns - Hoppa et al 1999
Europa - broken ice source Galileo
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Europa - Icy Moon

• Potential instrumentation
• Laseraltimeter and stereo camera (Mapping and
  time variations, surface and interior)
• IR spectrometer/ imager (Composition of minerals
  and ices)
• Plasma instrumentation (magnetic field, plasma
  and sputtered ions and neutrals)
• Sub-mm-spectrometer (composition exosphere)
• Surface in-situ instrumentation (impactor/lander)

Europa, source Galileo
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• Europa's ocean circulation
• Modelling
• coupled evolution of ocean and ice crust,
• based on Earth ocean and shelf ice models.
• Observations
• ocean circulation affects librations and ice
  thickness,
• observable by altimeter and imaging.

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Europa Orbiter Instrumentation

• Visible near-IR imaging spectrometer / spectral
  imager
• Scientific objectives
• surface structure (high resolution)
• surface ices (spectroscopy)
• body tides and internal structure
• Concept
• combined visible near-IR filter imaging
  scanner plus integral field spectroscopy unit
  (IFU) for detailed surface spectroscopy (a la
  IRIS/BepiCam for Bepi Colombo)
• image scanner wavelength range 0.35-2.5 micron,
  high spatial resolution in visible near-IR,
  continuous / dense filter set across wavelength
  range
• IFU medium resolution fiber spectrograph,
  1-5micron

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Europa Lander Instrumentation

• Surface Ice Analyzer
• Scientific objectives
• surface ice composition
• search for bio tracers
• landing site inter-ice-plate terrain
• Concept
• combined mass spectrometer gas chromatograph a
  la COSAC onboard of ROSETTA lander