Physics

Sascha Kempf

Associate ProfessorLASP

CU Boulder, Physics

Searching for Evidence of Life on Europa’s Surface with SUDA on Europa Clipper

Due to its subsurface ocean, the Jovian moon Europa is one of the most promising places in the Solar System to search for evidence of life. NASA’s Europa Clipper mission aims to determine whether Europa has the conditions necessary to harbor life. The Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) aboard Europa Clipper will play a crucial role in achieving this goal.

SUDA is a dust impact mass spectrometer designed to investigate the composition of Europa’s surface. This time-of-flight instrument is derived from dust composition analyzers previously flown on the Giotto, Stardust, and Cassini missions. Building on the technology of the successful Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) on Cassini, SUDA uses advanced reflectron-type ion optics to achieve substantially higher mass resolution. SUDA will measure the mass, speed, and charge of impacting grains and determine their chemical, elemental, and isotopic composition.

Atmosphereless planetary moons, such as the Galilean satellites, are surrounded by ballistic dust exospheres consisting of tiny particles ejected from their surfaces by fast micrometeoroid impacts. During close flybys of Europa, SUDA will analyze the composition of this surface ejecta, providing key information about Europa’s surface composition, history, and geological evolution. Because the ejecta follow ballistic trajectories, their origins can be traced back to the surface with a spatial resolution comparable to the spacecraft’s instantaneous altitude.

SUDA will detect a wide variety of organic compounds in Europa’s surface ice, including potential biomarkers such as amino and fatty acids at concentrations down to parts per million (ppm), and connect these compounds to their regions of origin. This capability enables the simultaneous compositional mapping of numerous organic and inorganic components, including both major and trace compounds, with a single instrument. Compositional variations may reveal evidence of recent tectonic activity, cryovolcanism, or resurfacing and can be associated with corresponding geological features, including large impact craters. Most importantly, the detection and spatial mapping of trace organic compounds and other potential biosignatures may provide clues to the habitability of Europa’s subsurface ocean and, potentially, evidence of biological activity.

In my talk, I will discuss SUDA’s unique ability to obtain spatially resolved compositional information from orbit, how laboratory impact experiments allow us to interpret its mass spectra, and how these measurements can contribute to the search for habitable environments—and potentially evidence of life—on Europa.

Sascha Kempf

Associate ProfessorLASP

CU Boulder, Physics

Searching for Evidence of Life on Europa’s Surface with SUDA on Europa Clipper

Due to its subsurface ocean, the Jovian moon Europa is one of the most promising places in the Solar System to search for evidence of life. NASA’s Europa Clipper mission aims to determine whether Europa has the conditions necessary to harbor life. The Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) aboard Europa Clipper will play a crucial role in achieving this goal.

SUDA is a dust impact mass spectrometer designed to investigate the composition of Europa’s surface. This time-of-flight instrument is derived from dust composition analyzers previously flown on the Giotto, Stardust, and Cassini missions. Building on the technology of the successful Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) on Cassini, SUDA uses advanced reflectron-type ion optics to achieve substantially higher mass resolution. SUDA will measure the mass, speed, and charge of impacting grains and determine their chemical, elemental, and isotopic composition.

Atmosphereless planetary moons, such as the Galilean satellites, are surrounded by ballistic dust exospheres consisting of tiny particles ejected from their surfaces by fast micrometeoroid impacts. During close flybys of Europa, SUDA will analyze the composition of this surface ejecta, providing key information about Europa’s surface composition, history, and geological evolution. Because the ejecta follow ballistic trajectories, their origins can be traced back to the surface with a spatial resolution comparable to the spacecraft’s instantaneous altitude.

SUDA will detect a wide variety of organic compounds in Europa’s surface ice, including potential biomarkers such as amino and fatty acids at concentrations down to parts per million (ppm), and connect these compounds to their regions of origin. This capability enables the simultaneous compositional mapping of numerous organic and inorganic components, including both major and trace compounds, with a single instrument. Compositional variations may reveal evidence of recent tectonic activity, cryovolcanism, or resurfacing and can be associated with corresponding geological features, including large impact craters. Most importantly, the detection and spatial mapping of trace organic compounds and other potential biosignatures may provide clues to the habitability of Europa’s subsurface ocean and, potentially, evidence of biological activity.

In my talk, I will discuss SUDA’s unique ability to obtain spatially resolved compositional information from orbit, how laboratory impact experiments allow us to interpret its mass spectra, and how these measurements can contribute to the search for habitable environments—and potentially evidence of life—on Europa.