Gravity Science Requirements for Future Icy/Ocean Worlds SmallSats Missions
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Nassif, Mohamed
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Abstract
Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in developing mission concepts designed to explore the icy satellites of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, some of which harbor a subsurface ocean and are geologically active, such as Europa, Enceladus and Titan. While the Galileo and Cassini missions provided data that helped improve our understanding of these bodies, these missions were not dedicated for icy moons exploration and hence many questions were left unanswered. These bodies are complex and less understood than terrestrial planets and have unique features of their own. In addition, the presence of an ocean makes these bodies key destinations in the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System. Measurement of a celestial body’s gravity field provides fundamental information on the body’s internal structure including mass distribution, tectonic process and thermal evolution. Prior gravity science experiments have enabled the development of gravity field models of various bodies such as Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Europa, Saturn, Titan and Enceladus. While gravity science alone cannot constrain the interior models due to its non-uniqueness, gravity data combined with additional measurement data such as altimetry and topography mapping can provide a better understanding of these complex worlds and their interactions with their parent planet. This paper discusses the current knowledge and unknowns of icy moons with a focus on Europa and Enceladus and proposes science objectives needed for a SmallSat icy moons exploration missions and potential measurement techniques for improved gravity science return.
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2020-12-15
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Masters Project
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