A Proposed Discovery Mission
Photo: NASA/JPL [Larger 99K GIF]
Photo: NASA/JPL [Larger 99K GIF] | NOTE: The following information was provided to the Astrobiology Web by the Prinicpal Investigator on this proposed mission with their permission to distribute it freely as we deemed appropriate. This is not an official NASA or JPL website and, as such, the information presented here is in no way endorsed or validated by NASA or JPL. Neither the Astrobiology Web or Reston Communications has any contractual or bidding relationship with NASA, JPL, or any of the proposing parties. We just think these are exciting ideas and wanted to share what we have learned with our readers. |
D. SCIENCE
D.4.5. Aerogel Collector for Europa (ACE)
A primary goal of the Ice Clipper mission is to collect Europa surface ejecta and return this to Earth for detailed analysis. The returned samples will be investigated by our team as well as the global community of researchers at laboratories capable of analyzing extraterrestrial materials at extremely small levels of sample.
The samples will be collected during a 10 km/s flyby of Europa using aerogel collectors identical to those deployed in the Stardust mission. At this relatively low flyby speed, ejecta particles in the 1 to 100 um size range will be captured by impact into ultra-low density aerogel. (See figure on pullout). Particle collection at this speed has been extensively demonstrated in laboratory simulations and Shuttle flights [Tsou 1993] and is central to the Stardust mission. It has been shown that the dust collection can be done with acceptable levels of sample alteration. The most important result of the study of the returned samples --- and probably only achievable with returned samples --- will be detailed analyses of the elemental, isotopic, mineralogical, chemical, and biogenic properties of the refractory material in the surface of Europa.
Laboratory investigation of the returned samples with instruments including electron microscopes, ion microprobes, atomic force microscopes, synchrotron microprobes, and laser probe mass spectrometers will provide an extraordinary opportunity to examine Europa samples at the highest possible level of detail. Advances in microanalytical instrumentation now provide unprecedented capabilities for analysis on the micron and submicron level, extending to atomic scale for imaging.