Amazing oxygen visions from a close flyby of Europa

The ice-covered Jovian moon generates 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours, enough to keep a million people breathing for a day.

Scientists with NASAJuno mission to Jupiter They calculated the rate of oxygen being produced on Jupiter's moon Europa to be much lower than most previous studies. Published on March 4 Nature astronomyThe conclusions were drawn by measuring the release of hydrogen gases from the moon's icy surface using data collected by the spacecraft's Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) instrument.

The paper's authors estimate the amount of oxygen produced at about 26 pounds per second (12 kilograms per second). Previous estimates range from a few pounds to more than 2,000 pounds per second (more than 1,000 kilograms per second). Scientists believe that some of the oxygen produced in this way could make its way into the lunar subsurface ocean as a potential source of metabolic energy.

Europe's potential for life

With an equatorial diameter of 1,940 miles (3,100 km), Europa is the fourth largest planet in the world. There are 95 known moons of Jupiter And the smallest of the four Galilean moons. Scientists believe a vast inland ocean of salty water lies beneath its icy crust, and are curious about the possibility of life-supporting conditions beneath the surface.

It's not just water that's of interest to astrobiologists: the position of Jupiter's moon plays an important role in biological possibilities as well. Europa's orbit places it in the middle of the gas giant's radiation belts. Charged or ionized particles from Jupiter bombard the icy surface, splitting water molecules in two to generate oxygen that might find its way into the moon's ocean.

This illustration shows charged particles from Jupiter impacting Europa's surface, splitting frozen water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen molecules. Scientists believe that some of the newly formed oxygen gases could migrate toward the moon's subsurface ocean, as shown in the inset image. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/PU

“Europa is like a snowball slowly losing its water in a flowing stream. Except, in this case, the stream is a liquid of ionized particles being swept across Jupiter by its extraordinary magnetic field. Princeton University In New Jersey. “When these ionized particles hit Europa, they break apart the water ice molecule by molecule at the surface to produce hydrogen and oxygen. In a way, the entire ice shell is constantly being eroded by waves of charged particles sweeping it away.”

Capture bombing

When Juno flew within 220 miles (354 kilometers) of Europa at 2:36 p.m. PT on September 29, 2022, JADE identified and measured hydrogen and oxygen ions created by the bombardment of charged particles and then “captured” by Jupiter's magnetism. The field also swept the moon.

“Back when NASA Galileo The mission, which flew across Europe, opened our eyes to the complex and dynamic interaction that Europe has with its environment. “Juno has brought a new ability to directly measure the composition of charged particles emanating from Europa's atmosphere, and we can't wait to peek behind the curtain of this exciting aquatic world,” Szalay said. “But what we didn’t realize was that Juno observations would give us strict limits on the amount of oxygen produced at Europa’s icy surface.”

Juno carries 11 state-of-the-art scientific instruments designed to study the Jovian system, including nine sensors for charged particles and electromagnetic waves to study Jupiter's magnetosphere.

“Our ability to fly close to the Galileo satellites during our extended mission has allowed us to begin to address a wide range of science, including some unique opportunities to contribute to the investigation of Europa's habitability,” said Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute. “. In San Antonio. “And we're not finished yet. More flybys and the first exploration of Jupiter's ring and polar atmosphere are yet to come.

Oxygen production is one of several aspects that NASA's Europa Clipper mission will investigate when it arrives at Jupiter in 2030. The mission has an advanced payload of nine Science tools To determine whether Europe has the right conditions for life.

Now Bolton and the rest of the Juno mission team have their sights set on another Jovian world, the volcano-studded moon Io. On April 9, the spacecraft will reach within 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) of its surface. The data collected by Juno will add to findings from previous flybys of Io, including two very close approaches of about 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) on December 30, 2023 and February 3, 2024.

Reference: “Oxygen production from disintegration of surface water ice in Europe” by J. R. Szalay, F. Allegrini, R. W. Ebert, F. Bagenal, S. J. Bolton, S. Fatemi, D. J. McComas, A. Pontoni, J. Saur, H. T. Smith, D. F. Strobel, S. D. Vance, A. Forberger and R.J. Wilson, March 4, 2024, Nature astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02206-x

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for principal investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) funded the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.