Space and astronomy news
In the next decade, space agencies will expand the search for extraterrestrial life beyond Mars, where all of our astrobiology efforts are currently focused. This includes the ESA’s, which will fly past Europa and Ganymede repeatedly to study their surfaces and interiors. There’s also NASA’s proposedmission that will fly to Titan and study its atmosphere, methane lakes, and the rich organic chemistry happening on its surface.
Whereas Europa also experiences plume activity, these are more sporadic and difficult to detect. Due to Europa’s higher gravity , water vapor and vented material don’t reach nearly as far into space. As Burchell told Universe Today via email, collecting samples from these plumes seems relatively simple, at least in theory. “Like all IOWs, it has an internal ocean with lots of water. What is in that water is the subject of much speculation and interest,” he said.
“The problem with collecting samples at speed is that a lot of testing has been done with metal and mineral projectile, but less is known about the response of organics to the high-speed impacts. The bonds in the organics will break, but at what speed? And which bonds first? So what you end up with for analysis may not be what came out of Enceladus. But with what biases? What degree of alteration? Understanding this is essential to any successful collection of samples.
According to Burchell, modeling how a spacecraft’s velocity would affect its ability to collect samples can be accomplished in one of two ways. On the one hand, there’s the computer modeling approach, where teams rely on advanced software to simulate impacts and measure the results. The other is the “kinetic” approach, which consists of firing small grains at targets at the right speeds and then measuring the force of impact. Burchell and his team prefer to do the latter.
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