Exploring the icy worlds of the outer solar system: From identifying oceans to the search for life
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Where
Dr. Marc Neveu
Research Scientist
Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology
University of Maryland College Park
Exploring the icy worlds of the outer solar system: From identifying oceans to the search for life
The past 10 years have seen a flurry of activity surrounding the exploration of icy ocean worlds, which are moons and dwarf planets known or suspected to harbor subsurface liquid water. Following the discovery of oceans inside Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto at the turn of the century, the Cassini spacecraft sent back evidence of an ocean in Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus, which has become understood to have all the ingredients necessary to harbor life. Oceans and water-based volcanism were also discovered on dwarf planet Ceres –the largest main-belt asteroid– and perhaps even on far-out Pluto. Renewed calls for exploring ocean worlds have led to initiating NASA's Clipper mission to Europa and Dragonfly to Titan, the European JUICE mission on its way to Ganymede, the study of a Europa Lander to search for life, the prioritization of NASA and European mission concepts to search for life at Enceladus, and a mission to the Uranian system that would search for oceans inside its moons. To organize these efforts, the science community has conceived a Roadmap to Ocean Worlds that involves searching for oceans, characterizing these oceans, understanding their habitability, and searching for life. Having had the chance to be involved with several of these developments, I will share my perspective on where our knowledge stands on oceans throughout the Solar System, how spacecraft on their way are likely to broaden it, and my contributions to designing missions to search for life.