Endurance: The rewards and challenges of landing a spacecraft on Europa

HR: 0800h
AN: P11B-0113 [Abstracts]
TI: Endurance: The rewards and challenges of landing a spacecraft on Europa
AU: Calvin, C
EM: Christina_Calvin@brown.edu
AF: Brown University, Dept of Geo Science 324 Brook Street, Box 1846, Providence, RI 02905 United States
AU: * Rager, A
EM: ahrager@unlv.nevada.edu
AF: UNLV, Dept of Geoscience, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4010 United States
AU: Balint, T
EM: Tibor.Balint@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: JPL/CalTech, 4800 Oak Grove Drive Mail Stop 301-170U, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Santiago, D
EM: santiago@es.ucsc.edu
AF: UC, Santa Cruz, Dept of Earth Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 United States
AU: Anderson, J
EM: anderson@porter.geo.brown.edu
AF: Winona State Univ, Dept of Geosciences, Winona, MN 55987 United States
AU: Cassidy, T
EM: tac2z@virginia.edu
AF: Univ of Virginia, Dept of Environmental Sciences, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4123 United States
AU: Chavez-Clemente, D
EM: dchavez@stanford.edu
AF: Stanford Univ, Dept of Aeronautical Engineering, Stanford, CA 94305-4035 United States
AU: Corbett, B M
EM: bmyers@du.edu
AF: Univ of Denver, Dept of Engineering and Materials Science, Denver, CO 80208 United States
AU: Hammerstein, H
EM: Heidi_Hammerstein@hotmail.com
AF: Gulfstream Aerospace, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, GA 31407 United States
AU: Hanley, T R
EM: gtg237n@mail.gatech.edu
AF: Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Atlanta, GA 30332-0250 United States
AU: Letcher, A
EM: aletcher@stanford.edu
AF: Stanford Univ, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford, CA 94305 United States
AU: McGowan, E M
EM: emcgowan@geo.umass.edu
AF: UMass, Amherst, Dept of Geosciences, Amherst, MA 01003-9297 United States
AU: McMenamin, D S
EM: dianna@geo.umass.edu
AF: UMass, Amherst, Dept of Geosciences, Amherst, MA 01003-9297 United States
AU: Murphy, N
EM: nmurphy@lasp.colorado.edu
AF: Univ of Colorado, Dept of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Obland, M D
EM: obland@physics.montana.edu
AF: Montana State Univ, Department of Physics, Bozeman, MT 59717 United States
AU: Parker, J S
EM: parkerjs@colorado.edu
AF: Univ of Colorado, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Perron, T
EM: perron@eps.berkeley.edu
AF: UCBerkeley, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Berkeley, CA 94720 United States
AU: Petro, N
EM: Noah_petro@brown.edu
AF: Brown University, Dept of Geo Science 324 Brook Street, Box 1846, Providence, RI 02905 United States
AU: Pulupa, M
EM: pulupa@ssl.berkeley.edu
AF: UCBerkeley, Space Sciences Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720-4767 United States
AU: Schofield, R
EM: Robyn.Schofield@noaa.gov
AF: Univ of Colorado, NOAA-David Skaggs Research Center, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AU: Sizemore, H G
EM: hanna.sizemore@colorado.edu
AF: Univ of Colorado, Dept of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Boulder, CO 80309 United States
AB: The possibility that a water ocean exists beneath Europa's icy shell makes Europa one of the most likely places in our solar system for life to have formed and prospered. In this study, we discuss ``Endurance,'' a proposed lander mission to Europa, and the issues involved in landing a spacecraft on the surface of Europa. Our lander was designed to meet the science objectives laid out in the JIMO SDT Report, namely to: 1) assess the habitability of the environment beneath the surface of Europa; 2) assess the geochemical and physical structure of the surface of Europa and provide ground truth for orbital studies; and 3) provide ground based geophysical studies of Europa's icy shell. Additionally, the mission is designed to assess surface conditions, such as surface structure and radiation levels, for future Europa lander missions. To achieve these objectives, our proposed science payload includes a seismometer, magnetometer, panoramic camera with multispectral imager, surface grinder (to assess the surface strength), microscopic imager, geochemical analysis device (i.e., GC-MS, PEPE), and radiation sensor. We selected the landing site of Castalia Macula suggested by Prockter and Schenk (2004) because its smooth, dark terrain indicates a young surface that may have resulted from recent interactions with the subsurface ocean. Although much can be learned from this mission, landing on Europa presents many challenges such as radiation, extreme cold, and the need to decontaminate the spacecraft to meet planetary protection requirements. The radiation at the surface of Europa requires that all instruments, with the exception of the magnetometer and the radiation detector, be shielded or contained within a vault. A controlled descent and smart landing software would be required to avoid obstacles, however the propellant required to land this mission significantly reduces the payload mass from the lander's mass allocation. Despite the harsh environment, the Endurance lander demonstrates the feasibility of landing and collecting valuable scientific data of the surface of Europa.
DE: 5220 Hydrothermal systems and weathering on other planets
DE: 5422 Ices
DE: 5470 Surface materials and properties
DE: 6221 Europa
DE: 6349 General or miscellaneous
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005