Join the Alien Search, login or register FREE on Aliens and Space Forum

Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site

NASA’s Juno Mission Measures Oxygen Production at Europa

By NASA
March 4 in NASA

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

This view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022.

Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Image processing: Kevin M. Gill CC BY 3.0

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

Scientists with NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter have calculated the rate of oxygen being produced at the Jovian moon Europa to be substantially less than most previous studies. Published on March 4 in Nature Astronomy, the findings were derived by measuring hydrogen outgassing from the icy moon’s surface using data collected by the spacecraft’s Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) instrument.

The paper’s authors estimate the amount of oxygen produced to be around 26 pounds every second (12 kilograms per second). Previous estimates range from a few pounds to over 2,000 pounds per second (over 1,000 kilograms per second). Scientists believe that some of the oxygen produced in this manner could work its way into the moon’s subsurface ocean as a possible source of metabolic energy.

With an equatorial diameter of 1,940 miles (3,100 kilometers), Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 95 known moons and the smallest of the four Galilean satellites. Scientists believe a vast internal ocean of salty water lurks beneath its icy crust, and they are curious about the potential for life-supporting conditions to exist below the surface.

This illustration shows charged particles from Jupiter impacting Europa’s surface, splitting frozen water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen molecules. Scientists believe some of these newly created oxygen gases could migrate toward the moon’s subsurface ocean, as depicted in the inset image.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/PU

It is not just the water that has astrobiologists’ attention: The Jovian moon’s location plays an important role in biological possibilities as well. Europa’s orbit places it right 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.

“Europa 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,” said JADE scientist Jamey Szalay from Princeton University in New Jersey. “When 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.”

Capturing the Bombardment

As Juno flew within 220 miles (354 kilometers) of Europa at 2:36 p.m. PDT Sept. 29, 2022, JADE identified and measured hydrogen and oxygen ions that had been created by the bombarding charged particles and then “picked up” by Jupiter’s magnetic field as it swept past the moon.

“Back when NASA’S 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’s atmosphere, and we couldn’t wait to further peek behind the curtain of this exciting water world,” said Szalay. “But what we didn’t realize is that Juno’s observations would give us such a tight constraint on the amount of oxygen produced in Europa’s icy surface.”

Juno carries 11 state-of-the-art science instruments designed to study the Jovian system, including nine charged-particle and electromagnetic-wave sensors for studying Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

“Our ability to fly close to the Galilean satellites during our extended mission allowed us to start tackling a breadth of science, including some unique opportunities to contribute to the investigation of Europa’s habitability,” said Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “And we’re not done yet. More moon flybys and the first exploration of Jupiter’s close ring and polar atmosphere are yet to come.”

Oxygen production is one of many facets that NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate when it arrives at Jupiter in 2030. The mission has a sophisticated payload of nine science instruments to determine if Europa has conditions that could be suitable for life.

Now Bolton and the rest of the Juno mission team are setting their sights on another Jovian world, the volcano-festooned moon Io. On April 9, the spacecraft will come within about 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) of its surface. The data Juno gathers will add to findings from past Io flybys, including two extremely close approaches of about 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) on Dec. 30, 2023, and Feb. 3, 2024.

More About the Mission

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the 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.

More information about Juno is available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/juno

News Media Contacts

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Deb Schmid
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
210-522-2254
dschmid@swri.org

2024-020

Details

Last Updated

Mar 04, 2024

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover Related Topics

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

View the full article

Quote

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Reply to this topic...

× Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead

Only 75 emoji are allowed.

× Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead

× Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor

× You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Insert image from URL

Followers 0

Go to topic listing

Similar Topics
- Telescope for NASA’s Roman Mission Complete, Delivered to Goddard
  By NASA
  
  This photo shows the Optical Telescope Assembly for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which was recently delivered to the largest clean room at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.NASA/Chris Gunn NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is one giant step closer to unlocking the mysteries of the universe. The mission has now received its final major delivery: the Optical Telescope Assembly, which includes a 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) primary mirror, nine additional mirrors, and supporting structures and electronics. The assembly was delivered Nov. 7. to the largest clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the observatory is being built.
  The telescope will focus cosmic light and send it to Roman’s instruments, revealing many billions of objects strewn throughout space and time. Using the mission’s Wide Field Instrument, a 300-megapixel infrared camera, astronomers will survey the cosmos all the way from the outskirts of our solar system toward the edge of the observable universe. Scientists will use Roman’s Coronagraph Instrument to test new technologies for dimming host stars to image planets and dusty disks around them in far better detail than ever before.
  “We have a top-notch telescope that’s well aligned and has great optical performance at the cold temperatures it will see in space,” said Bente Eegholm, optics lead for Roman’s Optical Telescope Assembly at NASA Goddard. “I am now looking forward to the next phase where the telescope and instruments will be put together to form the Roman observatory.”
  In this photo, optical engineer Bente Eegholm inspects the surface of the primary mirror for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. This 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) mirror is a major component of the Optical Telescope Assembly, which also contains nine additional mirrors and supporting structures and electronics.NASA/Chris Gunn Designed and built by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, the assembly incorporates key optics (including the primary mirror) that were made available to NASA by the National Reconnaissance Office. The team at L3Harris then reshaped the mirror and built upon the inherited hardware to ensure it would meet Roman’s specifications for expansive, sensitive infrared observations.
  “The telescope will be the foundation of all of the science Roman will do, so its design and performance are among the largest factors in the mission’s survey capability,” said Josh Abel, lead Optical Telescope Assembly systems engineer at NASA Goddard.
  The team at Goddard worked closely with L3Harris to ensure these stringent requirements were met and that the telescope assembly will integrate smoothly into the rest of the Roman observatory.
  The assembly’s design and performance will largely determine the quality of the mission’s results, so the manufacturing and testing processes were extremely rigorous. Each optical component was tested individually prior to being assembled and assessed together earlier this year. The tests helped ensure that the alignment of the telescope’s mirrors will change as expected when the telescope reaches its operating temperature in space.
  Then, the telescope was put through tests simulating the extreme shaking and intense sound waves associated with launch. Engineers also made sure that tiny components called actuators, which will adjust some of the mirrors in space, move as predicted. And the team measured gases released from the assembly as it transitioned from normal air pressure to a vacuum –– the same phenomenon that has led astronauts to report that space smells gunpowdery or metallic. If not carefully controlled, these gases could contaminate the telescope or instruments.
  Upon arrival at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the Optical Telescope Assembly for the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was lifted out of the shipping fixture and placed with other mission hardware in Goddard’s largest clean room. Now, it will be installed onto Roman’s Instrument Carrier, a structure that will keep the telescope and Roman’s two instruments optically aligned. The assembly’s electronics box –– essentially the telescope’s brain –– will be mounted within the spacecraft along with Roman’s other electronics.NASA/Chris Gunn Finally, the telescope underwent a month-long thermal vacuum test to ensure it will withstand the temperature and pressure environment of space. The team closely monitored it during cold operating conditions to ensure the telescope’s temperature will remain constant to within a fraction of a degree. Holding the temperature constant allows the telescope to remain in stable focus, making Roman’s high-resolution images consistently sharp. Nearly 100 heaters on the telescope will help keep all parts of it at a very stable temperature.
  “It is very difficult to design and build a system to hold temperatures to such a tight stability, and the telescope performed exceptionally,” said Christine Cottingham, thermal lead for Roman’s Optical Telescope Assembly at NASA Goddard.
  Now that the assembly has arrived at Goddard, it will be installed onto Roman’s Instrument Carrier, a structure that will keep the telescope and Roman’s two instruments optically aligned. The assembly’s electronics box –– essentially the telescope’s brain –– will be mounted within the spacecraft along with Roman’s other electronics.
  With this milestone, Roman remains on track for launch by May 2027.
  “Congratulations to the team on this stellar accomplishment!” said J. Scott Smith, the assembly’s telescope manager at NASA Goddard. “The completion of the telescope marks the end of an epoch and incredible journey for this team, and yet only a chapter in building Roman. The team’s efforts have advanced technology and ignited the imaginations of those who dream of exploring the stars.”
  Virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
  By Ashley Balzer
  NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
  Media Contact:
  Claire Andreoli
  NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
  claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
  301-286-1940
  Explore More
  3 min read NASA’s Roman Space Telescope’s ‘Eyes’ Pass First Vision Test
  Article 7 months ago 6 min read NASA Successfully Integrates Coronagraph for Roman Space Telescope
  Article 2 weeks ago 6 min read Primary Instrument for Roman Space Telescope Arrives at NASA Goddard
  Article 3 months ago Share
  Details
  Last Updated Nov 14, 2024 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
  Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Exoplanets Goddard Space Flight Center The Universe View the full article
- Introducing the Smile mission – Let’s Smile (episode 1)
  By European Space Agency
  
  Video: 00:06:45 Smile is the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, a brand-new space mission currently in the making. It will study space weather and the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s environment.
  Unique about Smile is that it will take the first X-ray images and videos of the solar wind slamming into Earth’s protective magnetic bubble, and its complementary ultraviolet images will provide the longest-ever continuous look at the northern lights.
  In this first of several short videos, David Agnolon (Smile Project Manager) and Philippe Escoubet (Smile Project Scientist) talk about the why and the how of Smile. You’ll see scenes of the building and testing of the spacecraft’s payload module by Airbus in Madrid, including the installation of one of the European instruments, the Soft X-ray Imager from the University of Leicester.
  Smile is a 50–50 collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). ESA provides the payload module of the spacecraft, which carries three of the four science instruments, and the Vega-C rocket which will launch Smile to space. CAS provides the platform module hosting the fourth science instrument, as well as the service and propulsion modules.
  View the full article
- NASA Science, Cargo Launch on 31st SpaceX Resupply Mission to Station
  By NASA
  
  The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 9:29 p.m. EST Monday, on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Credits: NASA Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 31st commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and cargo for the agency are bound for the International Space Station.
  The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 9:29 p.m. EST Monday, on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
  Live coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival will begin at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
  The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock at approximately 10:15 a.m. to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module.
  The resupply mission will support dozens of research experiments conducted during Expedition 72. In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Dragon will deliver several new experiments, including the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment, to examine solar wind and how it forms. Dragon also delivers Antarctic moss to observe the combined effects of cosmic radiation and microgravity on plants. Other investigations aboard include a device to test cold welding of metals in microgravity and an investigation that studies how space impacts different materials.
  These are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Such research benefits humanity and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.
  The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until December when it will depart the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
  Learn more about space station activities by following @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook, ISS Instagram, and the space station blog.
  Learn more about the commercial resupply mission at:
  https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crs-31
  -end-
  Claire O’Shea / Josh Finch
  Headquarters, Washington
  202-358-1100
  joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
  Stephanie Plucinsky / Steven Siceloff
  Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
  321-876-2468
  stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov / steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
  Sandra Jones
  Johnson Space Center, Houston
  281-483-5111
  sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
  View the full article
- NASA’s New Edition of Graphic Novel Features Europa Clipper
  By NASA
  
  A new edition of Issue #4 of Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe has been released to include the NASA Europa Clipper mission. NASA Astrobiology/Aaron Gronstal To celebrate the successful launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, the agency’s Astrobiology program has released a new edition of Issue #4 – Missions to the Outer Solar System – of its graphic history series Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe.
  Issue #4 tells the story of the outer solar system, from beyond the asteroid belt to the outer reaches of the Sun’s magnetic influence. Gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn are not habitable, but many of their moons raise questions about life’s potential far, far away from the warmth of the Sun.
  One such body is Jupiter’s moon Europa, which contains an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. The Europa Clipper mission is designed to help scientists understand whether this ocean holds key ingredients that could support habitable environments for life as we know it. The spacecraft launched on Oct. 14 and will arrive at Jupiter in 2030.
  Additional content in the fourth edition of Issue #4 also includes ESA’s (European Space Agency) Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission, which will arrive in the Jovian system in 2031 and collect data on many of Jupiter’s moons, including Ganymede, Europa, Callisto, and Io, that is complementary to Europa Clipper’s investigation.
  Read more about how astrobiologists study the potential for life on worlds like Europa and the exciting data that Europa Clipper will gather by visiting NASA’s Astrobiology website and downloading the new edition.
  Digital wallpaper for phones, desktops, or meeting backgrounds that feature the new Europa Clipper artwork from Issue #4 are also available.
  This wallpaper image featuring NASA’s Europa Clipper mission uses artwork from Issue #4 of the astrobiology graphic history series, Astrobiology: The Story of our Search for Life in the Universe. The image of Jupiter in the background is adapted from imagery taken by NASA’s Juno Mission (Exotic Marble, 2019, NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Prateek Sarpal/©CCNCSA) NASA Astrobiology/Aaron Gronstal For more information on NASA’s Astrobiology program, visit:
  https://science.nasa.gov/astrobiology
  -end-
  Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
  Headquarters, Washington
  202-358-1600
  karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
  Share
  
  Details
  Last Updated Nov 01, 2024 Related Terms
  Astrobiology Explore More
  5 min read NASA: New Insights into How Mars Became Uninhabitable
  
  Article
  
  4 weeks ago
  14 min read The Making of Our Alien Earth: The Undersea Volcanoes of Santorini, Greece
  
  Article
  
  2 months ago
  5 min read NASA Scientists on Why We Might Not Spot Solar Panel Technosignatures
  
  Article
  
  3 months ago
  View the full article
- Europa Trek: NASA Offers a New Guided Tour of Jupiter’s Ocean Moon
  By NASA
  
  Learn Home Europa Trek: NASA Offers a New… Europa Clipper Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read
  Europa Trek: NASA Offers a New Guided Tour of Jupiter’s Ocean Moon
  NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is on its way to explore a moon of Jupiter that researchers believe may be one of the best places in the Solar System to search for life beyond Earth. While the spacecraft makes its more-than-five year journey to Europa, scientists, students, teachers, and the public can tour and explore the landforms of Europa with newly-released enhancements to NASA’s Europa Trek web portal.
  One of the largest of Jupiter’s nearly 100 recognized moons, Europa is covered with a global ice cap. But beneath that crust of ice, researchers have found an ocean of liquid water, estimated to have about twice the volume of all of Earth’s oceans combined. This vast amount of liquid water is of particular interest to astrobiologists, scientists studying the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Universe. Though Europa’s ocean remains hidden beneath its global crust of ice, we can get important clues about its nature by studying the remarkable landforms of Europa’s icy surface.
  To accompany the launch of Europa Clipper, NASA’s Solar System Treks Project released exciting new enhancements to its online Europa Trek portal on September 30, 2024. The new additions to Europa Trek allow users to interactively fly over and explore high-resolution imagery of Europa’s surface from the Voyager, Galileo, and Juno missions. Users can also take a new guided tour of Europa’s amazing landforms, with commentary developed by a collaboration between NASA’s Astrobiology Science Communication Guild and NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute. The tour and its commentary introduce virtual explorers to the geology and possible biological significance of the diverse features of Europa’s surface.
  “This is really fun. It’s cool how you can zoom into the high resolution data. I’ll spread the word about using this!” – Bob Pappalardo, Europa Clipper Project Scientist
  The new tour and capabilities of Europa Trek were featured at the Europa Clipper public launch program at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center on October 6,2024, in advance of the October 14 launch of the mission. As part of the public program conducted by NASA’s Planetary Mission Program Office, the Europa Trek exhibit allowed hundreds of visitors to try their hands at flying over Europa and visualizing its exotic terrain.
  NASA’s Solar System Treks is an infrastructure project within NASA’s Science Activation Team. Their online portals are used for mission planning, planetary science research, and Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) education. NASA’s Astrobiology Science Communication Guild is an international, community-based network of astrobiologists who engage in science communication with diverse audiences and learners. Watch for future collaborations between Solar System Treks and the Astrobiology Science Communication Guild at more locations across the Solar System!
  Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
  A stop along the guided tour of Europa landforms Share
  
  Details
  Last Updated Oct 23, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
  Europa Europa Clipper Opportunities For Educators to Get Involved Opportunities For Students to Get Involved Planetary Science Science Activation Explore More
  5 min read Old Data Yields New Secrets as NASA’s DAVINCI Preps for Venus Trip
  How NASA’s DAVINCI mission to Venus uses old data to reveal new secrets.
  
  Article
  
  6 days ago
  6 min read NASA’s Hubble, New Horizons Team Up for a Simultaneous Look at Uranus
  
  Article
  
  2 weeks ago
  4 min read NASA’s Hubble Watches Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Behave Like a Stress Ball
  
  Article
  
  2 weeks ago
  Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
  James Webb Space Telescope
  
  Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
  
  Perseverance Rover
  
  This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial…
  
  Parker Solar Probe
  
  On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona…
  
  Juno
  
  NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to…
  
  View the full article
Check out these Videos

Sign In

NASA’s Juno Mission Measures Oxygen Production at Europa

Recommended Posts

NASA