I'm back from the Europa Focus Group meeting... |
I'm back from the Europa Focus Group meeting... |
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 1 2006, 07:33 AM
Post
#1
|
Guests |
...which I decided to attend literally at the last possible minute, which is why I didn't alert you guys in advance. Very interesting -- both the discussions about the likely design of the mission (and how to retrieve it from cancellation), and many of the actual science presentations (which aren't on the Web yet, although they probably soon will be). I'll give you some more information tomorrow -- although I can't resist telling Alex that Tom Spilker's subgroup took my ideas about a Europa penetrator, and the printed information I gave them on the subject, seriously enough to recommend making further inquiries to NASA HQ on it. (And without my browbeating them, either. Nyaah.) The case for it, however, is still extremely far from certain.
As I say, more tomorrow. |
|
|
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 7 2006, 10:12 PM
Post
#2
|
Guests |
Getting back to Europa: the most interesting purely scientific news to come out of the Focus Group meeting was three separate reports that converge pretty well on a likely surface composition.
John Spencer reported on several years' worth of near-IR spectra taken through Keck adaptive optics which have a spatial resolution of only 200 km, but a spectral resolution fully 66 times better than Galileo's -- and which, to the researchers' shock, nevertheless showed NO new spectral features beyond those seen by Galileo. The very smoothness of the Keck spectra indicates that the salts in the ice are in flash-frozen brine (e.g., amorphous) form rather than crystalline; I wonder whether the same Jovian radiation that breaks up Europa's ice into amorphous form may have randomly redistributed the dissolved salt ions through the same process. All three reports (including two other studies by John Dalton and T.M. Orlando) indicate a good spectral match to ice mixed with large amounts of sulfuric acid, Mg sulfate and Na sulfate. Remove any of those three substances and the spectrum doesn't match nearly as well. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 29th April 2024 - 02:19 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |