In-situ detection of Europa’s water plumes is harder than previously thought
Europa’s subsurface ocean is a potential candidate for life in the outer solar system. It is thought that plumes may exist which eject ocean material out into space, which may be detected by a spacecraft flyby. Previous work on the feasibility of these detections has assumed a collisionless model of...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1 May 2023
|
| In: |
Icarus
Year: 2023, Volume: 395, Pages: 1-12 |
| ISSN: | 0019-1035 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115488 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115488 Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523000659 
|
| Author Notes: | Rowan Dayton-Oxland, Hans L.F. Huybrighs, Thomas O. Winterhalder, Arnaud Mahieux, David Goldstein |
| Summary: | Europa’s subsurface ocean is a potential candidate for life in the outer solar system. It is thought that plumes may exist which eject ocean material out into space, which may be detected by a spacecraft flyby. Previous work on the feasibility of these detections has assumed a collisionless model of the plume particles. New models of the plumes including particle collisions have shown that a shock can develop in the plume interior as rising particles collide with particles falling back to the moon’s surface, limiting the plume’s altitude. These models also assume a Laval nozzle-like vent which results in a colder plume source temperature than in previous studies, further limiting the plume’s extent. We investigate to what degree the limited extent of the shocked plumes reduces the ability of the JUICE spacecraft to detect plume H2O molecules. ... |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Online veröffentlicht am 15. Februar 2023, Artikelversion vom 20. Februar 2023 Gesehen am 13.12.2023 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 0019-1035 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115488 |