Final month (December 2022), engineers and technicians delivered a complicated new mass spectrometer for the Europa Clipper mission to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. It’s now able to be built-in into the spacecraft, which is because of launch to Jupiter’s ocean moon, Europa, in late 2024.
The instrument – referred to as a MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration (MASPEX) – will principally act as Europa Clipper’s “nostril.” It’s designed to smell out gases on and round Europa, to assist assess the habitability of this ocean moon of Jupiter. The Southwest Analysis Institute (SwRI) designed and constructed MASPEX.
Superior new mass spectrometer for Europa Clipper
Considered one of 9 devices on Europa Clipper, MASPEX is probably the most subtle mass spectrometer but designed to fly in space. MASPEX will examine the chemistry of Europa, together with its floor, ambiance and subsurface ocean. It does so by analyzing gases at Europa to find out their composition. This offers precious clues as to circumstances not solely on the frozen floor, however deeper down within the salty ocean itself. Additionally, MASPEX will have a look at how the floor and ocean trade materials. As well as, it can look at how Jupiter’s sturdy radiation impacts supplies on Europa’s floor.
SwRI Senior Vice President and MASPEX principal investigator Jim Burch defined, saying:
MASPEX has a mass decision a whole lot of occasions finer than something that has flown to space earlier than. SwRI has used inside funding and NASA sources to develop an instrument in a position to differentiate between molecules with virtually similar lots based mostly on the vitality binding the atoms. It additionally differentiates isotopes, atoms with equal numbers of protons however a distinct variety of neutrons. These capabilities are vital to revealing the secrets and techniques of Europa.
SwRI’s Steve Persyn, undertaking supervisor for MASPEX, mentioned:
It has been an enormous group effort to get this next-generation space mass spectrometer constructed, examined and delivered. SwRI has many years of expertise designing and constructing devices for space missions.
How MASPEX works
So, how does MASPEX work? Typically talking, the premise is pretty easy. The instrument sucks in fuel molecules from Europa after which converts them into ions. Ions are any atom or group of atoms which have a number of constructive or unfavorable electrical fees. Then, the ions bounce forwards and backwards contained in the instrument about 400 occasions. Whereas the ions are transferring, MASPEX measures their mass. Realizing the precise mass helps scientists decide the composition of the atoms and molecules.
MASPEX additionally differentiates between isotopes, that are atoms with equal numbers of protons however a distinct variety of neutrons.
Europa Clipper received’t land on Europa itself, however it can conduct quite a few shut flybys of the moon. It’s additionally attainable for Europa Clipper to fly by a few of Europa’s water vapor plumes – in the event that they do exist – and pattern them immediately. Imagery and different information from telescopes corresponding to Hubble have supplied tentative but good evidence for his or her existence. Nevertheless, some scientists nonetheless debate if these truly are plumes. In that case, they appear to be just like the plumes on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, however extra intermittent and smaller-scale.
Christopher Glein, MASPEX co-investigator and planetary geochemist, mentioned:
We hope to determine and fly by plumes and different sources of fuel venting from cracks in Europa’s icy floor. We all know microbes on Earth exploit any molecule that may function a meals supply. MASPEX goes to assist Europa Clipper decide whether or not there’s something for microbes to eat, corresponding to natural molecules that may be sourced from hydrothermal vents on the backside of a deep ocean. The information from this thrilling mission will give us a a lot richer perspective on the habitability of Europa.
Europa in unprecedented element
Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch in 2024 and arrive at Jupiter and Europa in 2030. It’s the first mission devoted to finding out Europa and its subsurface ocean in unprecedented element. It is going to present scientists with a significantly better understanding of Europa’s ocean and its potential habitability. And, maybe, much more clues as to the presence of life itself.
Final November, engineers additionally put in Europa Clipper’s four large reaction wheels. They may assist hold the spacecraft oriented in the best route to conduct its science investigations and ship the info again to Earth.
Backside line: NASA has acquired a complicated mass spectrometer for the Europa Clipper mission. It is going to analyze gases for clues concerning the ocean moon’s habitability.
