Science of the Europa Clipper Mission: T-8 Months to Launch!
This month we're hosting our second talk about upcoming missions in the Solar System. This month, Dr Carol Paty from the University of Oregon will be giving us her perspective. Dr Paty is a co-investigator on the ongoing Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and upcoming Europa Clipper missions and a member of the science team for the Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission, which is currently in the planning stage. She'll again focus on the Clipper, since it is so close to launch, but might touch on some of the other missions, as well. Please see Dr Paty's description of her talk below.
Beginning with Galileo Galilei in 1610, the Jovian system of worlds has inspired us and provided a rich environment for paradigm change and discovery. Nearly 415 years from Galileo's discovery of the Jovian moons, we are poised to launch our next mission to further investigate the mysteries of Europa.
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will launch in October 2024, with the goal of exploring Jupiter’s moon Europa to understand its habitability. This robotic explorer will enter Jupiter orbit in April 2030, and, beginning March 2031, it will collect science data while flying past Europa 49 times. The mission will investigate Europa’s habitability by studying its interior, composition, and geology, and will search for and characterize any current geologic activity including possible plumes. In this lecture, I'll discuss the mission’s science objectives and how they will be addressed using an advanced suite of complementary remote sensing and in-situ instruments onboard Europa Clipper. From the short wavelengths of the ultraviolet to long wavelengths of radio, to a variety of compositional analysis techniques, to magnetic sounding of the interior, the diverse set of observations these instruments and investigations provide will paint a comprehensive picture of Europa's habitability and what lies beneath its frozen exterior. I'll also discuss the progress of the spacecraft assembly and testing as it makes its way to the launchpad.
About Dr Carol Paty
Dr. Paty is a planetary and space physicist specializing in studying magnetospheres of giant planets, moon-magnetosphere interactions, and icy moon interiors using a combination of simulations and spacecraft observations. She received her BA in Physics and Astronomy from Bryn Mawr College, and her PhD from the University of Washington in Earth and Space Science. She is a co-investigator on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission and the JUICE mission and is actively developing new mission strategies to explore the Uranus system. Previously she worked on developing mission strategies to the Neptune-Triton system as part of the Trident Discovery mission team and the Neptune Odyssey Planetary Mission Concept Study. She currently sits on the steering committee of the Outer Planets Assessment Group and recently worked on the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. Dr. Paty has been a Professor at the University of Oregon since 2018, prior to this position she spent 10 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences developing a planetary science focus and helped found the Center for Space Technology and Research which bridged space research interests between the College of Science and College of Engineering. Her postdoc was spent working with the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer team at the Southwest Research Institute.