This instrument will measure the composition of small, solid particles ejected from Europa, providing the opportunity to directly sample the surface and potential plumes on low-altitude flybys. Europa's internal liquid water ocean has been identified as one of the locations in the Solar System that may offer habitable environments to microbial extraterrestrial life.[4][5][6]
Overview
Europa Clipper's Dust Analyzer sensor head
The basic idea of compositional mapping is that moons without an atmosphere are surrounded by clouds of dust particles released from their surfaces by meteoroid bombardment. The ejected particles can be sampled and their composition analyzed from orbit or during a spacecraft flyby.[2] Since these grains are direct samples from the moons' icy surfaces, determination of their composition will help to define and constrain the geological activities on and below the moons' surface, the exchange processes with the deeper interior, and assess its internal ocean habitability potential.[2][7] The instrument is capable of identifying traces of organic and inorganic compounds in the ice of ejecta.[8]
The SUDA instrument has technological heritage from the Cassini CDA and the Stardust CIDA instruments.[2] The Principal Investigator is Sascha Kempf, from the University of Colorado Boulder. Co-investigators on the instrument include Mihaly Horanyi and Zoltan Sternovsky.
Provide a spatially resolved compositional map of Europa for the regions along the groundtracks of the orbiter's flybys.
Characterize the alteration of Europa's surface via exogenous dust impacts by measuring the composition, size, speed, and spatial distribution of dust in the vicinity of the moon.
Investigate the local plasma environment of Europa by measuring the electrostatic charge of dust particles in the vicinity of the moon.
^Kempf, Sascha; et al. (May 2012). "Linear high resolution dust mass spectrometer for a mission to the Galilean satellites". Planetary and Space Science. 65 (1): 10–20. Bibcode:2012P&SS...65...10K. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2011.12.019.
