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<\/p>\nUsing NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft, scientists have calculated the rate of oxygen production on Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa \u2014 the first time any spacecraft had directly measured charged oxygen and hydrogen particles from the moon\u2019s atmosphere. From these measurements, the team determined the rate of oxygen production to be much lower than estimated in previous studies.<\/p>\n
Europa, Jupiter\u2019s fourth largest moon, has a rocky interior and a surface made of water ice. Measurements of the moon\u2019s magnetic field, collected by NASA\u2019s Galileo mission, provided evidence for the presence of a salty ocean beneath the ice sheets. Ocean worlds, like Europa, are the prime candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBack when NASA\u2019s Galileo mission flew by Europa, it opened our eyes to the complex and dynamic interaction Europa has with its environment. Juno brought a new capability to directly measure the composition of charged particles shed from Europa\u2019s atmosphere, and we couldn\u2019t wait to further peek behind the curtain of this exciting water world,\u201d said lead author Jamey Szalay of Princeton University in New Jersey. \u201cBut what we didn\u2019t realize is that Juno\u2019s observations would give us such a tight constraint on the amount of oxygen produced in Europa\u2019s icy surface.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sept. 29, 2022, Juno observed Europa when it flew by at an altitude of 353 kilometers. It used its Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) instrument to measure charged particles that trailed the moon in its orbit around Jupiter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Illustration showing charged particles impacting Europa\u2019s surface, splitting water molecules from the moon\u2019s icy crust into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The inset depicts how these oxygen molecules could migrate to the ocean below. (Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SWRI\/PU)<\/p>\n
\u201cEuropa is like an ice ball slowly losing its water in a flowing stream. Except, in this case, the stream is a fluid of ionized particles swept around Jupiter by its extraordinary magnetic field,\u201d explained Szalay. \u201cWhen these ionized particles impact Europa, they break up the water-ice molecule by molecule on the surface to produce hydrogen and oxygen. In a way, the entire ice shell is being continuously eroded by waves of charged particles washing up upon it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Juno\u2019s observations, the team determined the rate at which hydrogen was produced at the moon\u2019s surface. The process that splits the water molecules in the ice produces hydrogen and oxygen molecules in a two-to-one ratio. From this, the scientists estimate the total oxygen production on Europa at around 12 kilograms per second.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Juno, previous estimates ranged from a few kilograms per second to over 1,000 kilograms per second,\u201d said Szalay. \u201cThe findings unambiguously demonstrate oxygen is continuously produced in the surface, just a good bit lower than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA mission updates (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The team believes that some of the produced oxygen could find its way through the ice sheet into the oceans below, where it could potentially support life. However, they estimate the rate at which this happens to be a lot lower than suggested in previous studies.<\/p>\n Juno performed the measurements as part of its extended mission. The spacecraft was launched in 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in 2016. After Juno completed its prime mission in July 2021, NASA authorized a mission extension to 2025, or until the spacecraft\u2019s end of life.<\/p>\n \u201cWe designed JADE to measure the charged particles that create Jupiter\u2019s auroras,\u201d said co-author Frederic Allegrini of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas. \u201cFlybys of Europa were not part of the primary Juno mission. JADE was designed to work in a high-radiation environment but not necessarily Europa\u2019s environment, which is constantly bombarded with high levels of radiation. Nonetheless, the instrument performed beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n Through its extended mission, Juno contributes to the goals of future missions to the Jovian system. The authors of the new paper state that their findings have important implications for the European Space Agency\u2019s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission and NASA\u2019s upcoming Europa Clipper.<\/p>\n Illustration showing the orbits for Juno\u2019s prime and extended missions. (Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI)<\/p>\n Juice, which launched on April 14, 2023, is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2031. To get there, it will fly by Earth and Venus multiple times to perform so-called gravity assist maneuvers. The first of which, an Earth-Moon flyby, is set to happen this summer.<\/p>\n At Jupiter, Juice will study Europa and two other ocean-bearing moons, Ganymede and Callisto, with its 10 science instruments. During two flybys, Juice will measure the thickness of Europa\u2019s ice crust and scout locations for potential future exploration.<\/p>\n Europa Clipper is currently being tested ahead of its launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, scheduled for October 2024. After it arrives in 2030, the spacecraft will use its nine science instruments to study Europa\u2019s habitability during 49 flybys. The current study\u2019s authors suggest that the observations made with one of these instruments, the Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding instrument, are affected by the new findings.<\/p>\n Together, these missions will help scientists understand ocean worlds and how they could potentially support life.<\/p>\n \u201cEuropa is a fascinating object because scientists are confident a liquid ocean exists in its interior,\u201d said co-author Robert Ebert of SwRI. \u201cWater is important for the existence of life and can be found in or on objects with varying characteristics. Europa is a good place to search for water within our solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n Szalay et al.\u2019s study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy on March 4.<\/p>\n (Lead image: Europa imaged by Juno during its flyby on Sept. 26, 2022. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Kevin M. Gill)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Using NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft, scientists have calculated the rate of oxygen production on Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa \u2014 the first time any spacecraft had directly measured charged oxygen and hydrogen particles from the moon\u2019s atmosphere. From these measurements, the team determined the rate of oxygen production to be much lower than estimated in previous studies. Europa, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8066,1659,7994,8315,4129,1929,1606,625,190,7974],"class_list":["post-24072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atmosphere","tag-europa","tag-icy-moon","tag-jade","tag-jpl","tag-juno","tag-jupiter","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-ocean"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24072"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}See Also<\/h4>\n
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