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Tag: europa clipper

  • A Physicist Wants to Turn Jupiter’s Largest Moon Into a Gigantic Dark Matter Detector

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    When searching for the unknown, classic physics wisdom holds that a bigger detector boosts the chances of discovery. A physicist is taking that advice to heart, advancing a bold plan to use none other than Ganymede—Jupiter’s largest moon—as a dark matter detector on an astronomical scale.

    Dark matter refers to the “invisible” mass that supposedly constitutes 85% of the universe. There’s considerable evidence that dark matter exists, but it’s “dark,” meaning it doesn’t respond to light and very weakly interacts with other matter. The search for dark matter has tested the limits of physicists’ creativity, but a proposal by William DeRocco, a physicist at the University of Maryland, may be the most extraordinary yet. In a preprint submitted to arXiv, Rocco suggests that Ganymede’s craters may store evidence of dark matter particles, which spacecraft like NASA’s Europa Clipper or ESA’s JUICE could observe during their respective missions.

    The paper, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, proposes that massive dark matter particles could have struck and penetrated Ganymede’s thick, icy surface, leaving deep, broad ruptures. Unlike the comparatively small-sized candidates for dark matter that ground-based detectors are searching for, these particles would be much larger. These extra-large dark matter particles would create “dark matter craters”—smaller dents on Ganymede’s surface comprised of distinctive minerals pulled to the surface from deep inside the moon’s oceans. 

    “If you used something like ground-penetrating radar, you might be able to see this column of melted ice going all the way down through the ice,” DeRocco explained in an interview with New Scientist. Studying Ganymede’s surface with this proposal in mind could uncover some unexpected insights about cosmic dark matter, according to the paper.

    In principle, the proposal sounds promising, Bradley Kavanaugh, an astrophysicist at the University of Cantabria in Spain who was not involved in the study, also told New Scientist. At the same time—like all dark matter experiments—there is still no definitive evidence that such heavy, massive dark matter particles actually exist.

    If all of this sounds bonkers, I don’t blame you. Still, it’s important to remember that, as many physicists are keen to point out, solving a physics mystery often means testing bold, unconventional ideas. And while there’s no decisive evidence that this particular proposal is correct, there isn’t any evidence to discount it, either. We’ll have to wait and see if NASA or ESA takes up DeRocco’s idea, and if they do, whether Ganymede really does have a surface dotted with dark matter craters.

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    Gayoung Lee

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  • Liftoff: NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter

    Liftoff: NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter

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    NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life.

    The spacecraft launched at 12:06pm EDT Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Central Florida.

    The largest spacecraft NASA ever built for a mission headed to another planet, Europa Clipper also is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) on a trajectory that will leverage the power of gravity assists, first to Mars in four months and then back to Earth for another gravity assist flyby in 2026. After it begins orbiting Jupiter in April 2030, the spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times.

    “Congratulations to our Europa Clipper team for beginning the first journey to an ocean world beyond Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA leads the world in exploration and discovery, and the Europa Clipper mission is no different. By exploring the unknown, Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is the potential for life not just within our solar system, but among the billions of moons and planets beyond our Sun.”

    Approximately five minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage fired up and the payload fairing, or the rocket’s nose cone, opened to reveal Europa Clipper. About an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from the rocket. Ground controllers received a signal soon after, and two-way communication was established at 1:13pm with NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia. Mission teams celebrated as initial telemetry reports showed Europa Clipper is in good health and operating as expected.

    “We could not be more excited for the incredible and unprecedented science NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will deliver in the generations to come,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and Europa Clipper’s scientific discoveries will build upon the legacy that our other missions exploring Jupiter — including Juno, Galileo, and Voyager — created in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”

    The main goal of the mission is to determine whether Europa has conditions that could support life. Europa is about the size of our own Moon, but its interior is different. Information from NASA’s Galileo mission in the 1990s showed strong evidence that under Europa’s ice lies an enormous, salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. Scientists also have found evidence that Europa may host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface.

    If the mission determines Europa is habitable, it may mean there are more habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond than imagined.

    “We’re ecstatic to send Europa Clipper on its way to explore a potentially habitable ocean world, thanks to our colleagues and partners who’ve worked so hard to get us to this day,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Europa Clipper will undoubtedly deliver mind-blowing science. While always bittersweet to send something we’ve labored over for years off on its long journey, we know this remarkable team and spacecraft will expand our knowledge of our solar system and inspire future exploration.”

    In 2031, the spacecraft will begin conducting its science-dedicated flybys of Europa. Coming as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) to the surface, Europa Clipper is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment, including an ice-penetrating radar, cameras, and a thermal instrument to look for areas of warmer ice and any recent eruptions of water. As the most sophisticated suite of science instruments NASA has ever sent to Jupiter, they will work in concert to learn more about the moon’s icy shell, thin atmosphere, and deep interior.

    To power those instruments in the faint sunlight that reaches Jupiter, Europa Clipper also carries the largest solar arrays NASA has ever used for an interplanetary mission. With arrays extended, the spacecraft spans 100 feet (30.5 meters) from end to end. With propellant loaded, it weighs about 13,000 pounds (5,900 kilograms).

    In all, more than 4,000 people have contributed to Europa Clipper mission since it was formally approved in 2015.

    “As Europa Clipper embarks on its journey, I’ll be thinking about the countless hours of dedication, innovation, and teamwork that made this moment possible,” said Jordan Evans, project manager, NASA JPL. “This launch isn’t just the next chapter in our exploration of the solar system; it’s a leap toward uncovering the mysteries of another ocean world, driven by our shared curiosity and continued search to answer the question, ‘are we alone?’”

    Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

    Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL in collaboration with NASA JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

    NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, managed the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.

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  • Hurricane Milton’s Imminent Landfall Officially Delays NASA Mission to Jupiter

    Hurricane Milton’s Imminent Landfall Officially Delays NASA Mission to Jupiter

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    NASA’s Europa Clipper, a mission set to probe Jupiter’s icy moon, will no longer launch on Thursday due to a Category 5 hurricane making its way towards Florida.

    The spacecraft’s launch window opens October 10 and remains open until November 6. The Europa Clipper was supposed to launch on the 10th, but the unexpected rapid development of Hurricane Milton means the launch is officially postponed. In a release, NASA stated that the probe and the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket which will launch it into space are safely secured in a Kennedy Space Center hangar. NASA did not immediately state a revised launch date for the spacecraft.

    Hurricane Milton is currently north of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, charting a northeasterly course towards Tampa, Florida. The storm rapidly increased in intensity; it only became a hurricane yesterday and it ramped up from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 storm in about seven hours. That intensification pace puts the storm behind only Hurricane Wilma (2005) and Hurricane Felix (2007) in the record books.

    Category 5 storms are the most intense on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, which classifies storms based on wind speed. A Category 5 storm is one with winds greater than 157 miles per hour (253 kilometers per hour). You can learn more about Hurricane Milton here.

    Not yet airborne, the Europa Clipper can’t seem to catch a break. The mission, which will cost about $5.2 billion at the end of its lifecycle, suffered a setback in July when engineers realized parts of the spacecraft weren’t equipped to handle the intense radiation in the Jovian system. Specifically, transistors which help electrical flow in the spacecraft needed to undergo further testing to confirm they would continue to function in the face of charged particles flying around Jupiter and its moons.

    The probe was finally cleared for launch on September 10, a month to the day from the spacecraft’s projected launch. Of course the team did not expect a Category 5 storm to be headed towards Florida, but such is the price of doing business in a peninsular state that has the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.

    A satellite image of Hurricane Milton’s well-defined eye, as seen by the GOES-19 satellite. Image: NOAA

    “The safety of launch team personnel is our highest priority, and all precautions will be taken to protect the Europa Clipper spacecraft,” said Tim Dunn, senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Services Program, in the NASA release. “Once we have the ‘all-clear’ followed by facility assessment and any recovery actions, we will determine the next launch opportunity for this NASA flagship mission.”

    Kennedy Space Center announced on social media this afternoon that the facility is still open, but is in a HURCON III status, its hurricane preparedness status that involves securing facilities, property, and equipment 48 hours prior to sustained 50-knot winds.

    Meanwhile, Milton has also interrupted suborbital flights; the Tampa International Airport and St. Pete-Clearwater International Airports announced they would close tomorrow, in anticipation of the storm’s landfall.

    The October 10 launch window has been scrapped on the mission’s website, which outlines one three-hour launch window per day through the end of the month. Should it launch in that window, the Europa Clipper is slated to reach the Jovian system in April 2030. It will make 80 orbits of Jupiter and 49 flybys of Europa, which is thought to contain a salty water ocean under its icy crust, making it a compelling venue for astrobiology: the study of life beyond Earth.

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    Isaac Schultz

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