Unlocking the cryo-mineral record of ocean-surface transport at Jupiter's icy moons
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Abstract
This project will deliver the first quantitative framework linking surface composition to geologic history at our Solar System’s icy ocean worlds, enabling upcoming space missions to identify the most valuable regions for deciphering the habitability of the oceans below.
Beneath their icy crusts, Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede harbour deep salty oceans that potentially could host life. Salts have been detected on their surfaces, suggesting that ocean water sometimes breaks through the ice. Rapid eruption of subsurface liquids, such as in plumes, leads to the best chance for preservation of ocean chemistry and signs of habitable conditions. Distinguishing salts produced by these rapid processes from salts that have formed gradually or have been delivered from space is therefore vital for guiding imminent missions JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE; ESA) and Europa Clipper (NASA) in their hunt for evidence of habitability.
Our previous STFC-funded research led to a groundbreaking discovery: when salty water freezes at different rates, it creates different types of minerals. We have shown that a "metastable" form of NaCl (an abundant salt on Europa) appears only when freezing happens quickly and can be identified by infrared sensors like those carried by JUICE and Clipper. Our discovery suggests that we could use the types of salt minerals on the surface of icy worlds to understand how quickly they formed – unlocking a new approach for missions to identify salts formed through rapid freezing.
Building on our success with NaCl, we will systematically investigate how all major salts found on Europa and Ganymede behave when frozen at various rates and identify their characteristic infrared signatures. We will combine thermal analyses, spectroscopy, and beamline experiments to:
Identify which of the different salts detected at Jupiter’s icy moons form metastable minerals during rapid freezing.
Determine how the amounts of these metastable minerals change at different freezing rates, unlocking a new framework for identifying the most valuable regions for deciphering ocean habitability at icy worlds.
Establish an effective infrared technique to identify metastable minerals amongst mixtures of salts typical of those found on icy worlds using techniques carried by imminent space missions
The outcome of our project will be the first quantitative framework to infer the formation history of icy world surface material from measurements of its composition.
The timing of our project is crucial. Not only are observations by telescopes continuously providing new data in need of interpretation, JUICE and Europa Clipper will begin seeking ocean-derived materials at Jupiter’s icy moons just 1-2 years after project end. Having our results in advance of arrival will allow their science teams to incorporate our data into their workflows and respond to discoveries during the missions, prioritising specific regions for in-depth investigation.
We will ensure our findings reach the relevant communities rapidly through our formal Project Partners and our involvement in international consortia with mission science teams. We will also share our discoveries with the public through science festivals and engaging articles on the Open University's OpenLearn platform, which reaches millions of learners.
By delivering vital knowledge about how to interpret icy world surface composition, our work will provide new perspectives on existing spacecraft data and transform the capability of upcoming missions to understand whether life could be possible at Jupiter’s icy moons.
Beneath their icy crusts, Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede harbour deep salty oceans that potentially could host life. Salts have been detected on their surfaces, suggesting that ocean water sometimes breaks through the ice. Rapid eruption of subsurface liquids, such as in plumes, leads to the best chance for preservation of ocean chemistry and signs of habitable conditions. Distinguishing salts produced by these rapid processes from salts that have formed gradually or have been delivered from space is therefore vital for guiding imminent missions JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE; ESA) and Europa Clipper (NASA) in their hunt for evidence of habitability.
Our previous STFC-funded research led to a groundbreaking discovery: when salty water freezes at different rates, it creates different types of minerals. We have shown that a "metastable" form of NaCl (an abundant salt on Europa) appears only when freezing happens quickly and can be identified by infrared sensors like those carried by JUICE and Clipper. Our discovery suggests that we could use the types of salt minerals on the surface of icy worlds to understand how quickly they formed – unlocking a new approach for missions to identify salts formed through rapid freezing.
Building on our success with NaCl, we will systematically investigate how all major salts found on Europa and Ganymede behave when frozen at various rates and identify their characteristic infrared signatures. We will combine thermal analyses, spectroscopy, and beamline experiments to:
Identify which of the different salts detected at Jupiter’s icy moons form metastable minerals during rapid freezing.
Determine how the amounts of these metastable minerals change at different freezing rates, unlocking a new framework for identifying the most valuable regions for deciphering ocean habitability at icy worlds.
Establish an effective infrared technique to identify metastable minerals amongst mixtures of salts typical of those found on icy worlds using techniques carried by imminent space missions
The outcome of our project will be the first quantitative framework to infer the formation history of icy world surface material from measurements of its composition.
The timing of our project is crucial. Not only are observations by telescopes continuously providing new data in need of interpretation, JUICE and Europa Clipper will begin seeking ocean-derived materials at Jupiter’s icy moons just 1-2 years after project end. Having our results in advance of arrival will allow their science teams to incorporate our data into their workflows and respond to discoveries during the missions, prioritising specific regions for in-depth investigation.
We will ensure our findings reach the relevant communities rapidly through our formal Project Partners and our involvement in international consortia with mission science teams. We will also share our discoveries with the public through science festivals and engaging articles on the Open University's OpenLearn platform, which reaches millions of learners.
By delivering vital knowledge about how to interpret icy world surface composition, our work will provide new perspectives on existing spacecraft data and transform the capability of upcoming missions to understand whether life could be possible at Jupiter’s icy moons.