New mass spectrometer for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission

A groundbreaking new mass spectrometer designed and constructed by Southwest Analysis Institute (SwRI) has been delivered for integration onto NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Scheduled to launch in 2024 and arrive within the Jovian system by 2030, Europa Clipper will conduct an in depth science investigation of the moon Europa and examine whether or not it might harbor situations appropriate for all times.

The MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXploration (MASPEX) instrument can be one in all 9 science instruments within the mission payload, which additionally consists of Europa-UVS, an SwRI-developed Ultraviolet Spectrograph, the newest in a sequence of spacecraft devices. MASPEX will analyze the gases close to Europa to know the chemistry of Europa’s floor, ambiance and suspected subsurface ocean. MASPEX will examine how Jupiter’s radiation alters Europa’s floor compounds and the way its icy floor and subsurface ocean alternate materials.

“MASPEX has a mass decision a whole lot of instances finer than something that has flown to space earlier than,” mentioned SwRI Senior Vice President Jim Burch, who serves as MASPEX principal investigator. Burch leads the Institute’s Area Sector, with three divisions dedicated to space science, solar system science and space methods.

“SwRI has used inside funding and NASA sources to develop an instrument capable of 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 special variety of neutrons. These capabilities are important to revealing the secrets and techniques of Europa.”

As soon as it arrives, Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter and carry out repeated shut flybys of the icy moon. MASPEX works by taking in fuel molecules lofted from the floor of Europa and changing them into charged particles known as ions. It bounces the ions (atoms and molecules lacking an electron) as much as 400 instances forwards and backwards inside the instrument. By timing their transit by the instrument, MASPEX measures the mass of those ions, which reveals every molecule’s id, which in flip helps decide whether or not Europa is liveable.

“It has been an enormous crew effort to get this next-generation space mass spectrometer constructed, examined and delivered,” mentioned Steve Persyn, challenge supervisor for MASPEX and a program director in SwRI’s Area Programs Division. “SwRI has a long time of expertise designing and constructing devices for space missions.”

SwRI-developed devices embody a number of of these onboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the Juno spacecraft now orbiting Jupiter, and ESA’s JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE) deliberate for a 2023 launch to orbit each Jupiter and its moon Ganymede.

“We hope to establish and fly by plumes and different sources of fuel venting from cracks in Europa’s icy floor,” mentioned SwRI’s Dr. Christopher Glein, MASPEX co-investigator and a planetary geochemist. “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, akin to natural molecules that may be sourced from hydrothermal vents on the backside of a deep ocean. The info from this thrilling mission will give us a a lot richer perspective on the habitability of Europa.”