NASA mission will use ice-penetrating radar to see within Europa’s icy shell
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 11:16 pm
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/te ... -icy-shell
Scientists are almost certain that a vast saltwater ocean with twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined lies beneath the icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa. The Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON), one of the nine instruments to be carried by NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper mission, will look directly into Europa's icy shell, hunting for the suspected ocean beneath.
The ice-penetrating radar will use high frequency and very high-frequency radio waves to penetrate Europa's ice as much as 18 miles (30 kilometers) deep. The radar instrument will search for the Jovian moon's suspected ocean, and study the ice's structure and thickness, a key factor to determine whether Europa could sustain life.
"The radar easily penetrates ice but doesn't go through water, so we hope REASON will tell us clearly where the ice ends and Europa's ocean begins," says REASON investigation scientist Trina Ray of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Scientists are almost certain that a vast saltwater ocean with twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined lies beneath the icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa. The Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface (REASON), one of the nine instruments to be carried by NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper mission, will look directly into Europa's icy shell, hunting for the suspected ocean beneath.
The ice-penetrating radar will use high frequency and very high-frequency radio waves to penetrate Europa's ice as much as 18 miles (30 kilometers) deep. The radar instrument will search for the Jovian moon's suspected ocean, and study the ice's structure and thickness, a key factor to determine whether Europa could sustain life.
"The radar easily penetrates ice but doesn't go through water, so we hope REASON will tell us clearly where the ice ends and Europa's ocean begins," says REASON investigation scientist Trina Ray of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.