NASA's Curious Universe Europa Clipper's Voyage to Jupiter's Ocean Moon
Oct 1, 2024
Lynnae Quick-Henderson, a planetary scientist at NASA, discusses the exciting Europa Clipper mission, which aims to uncover the secrets of Jupiter's ocean moon, Europa. She highlights the moon's potential to support life, under its icy surface. The conversation also features Ada Limón, the U.S. Poet Laureate, who shares how she drew inspiration from the mission for her poem 'In Praise of Mystery.' Together, they explore the intersection of science and art, encouraging listeners to reflect on our cosmic connections.
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Europa Hides A Deep Salty Ocean
- Europa likely hides a deep salty ocean beneath 10–15 miles of ice, making it an ocean world with potentially more water than Earth.
- Galileo data (density, conductivity) and surface salts (magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride) point to a 40–100 mile deep liquid ocean under the ice.
Cold Email And Overhead Transparencies Spark Career
- Lynnae Quick-Henderson cold-emailed for internships and learned mapping at Johns Hopkins by tracing Europa images on overhead projector transparencies.
- That hands-on mapping shifted her from physics to planetary geology and sparked her career focus on Europa.
Cryovolcanism Could Launch Ocean Samples
- Europa shows cold analogs to Earth's volcanism: cryovolcanism and possible plumes eject water, ice particles, and salts from the subsurface.
- Hubble has seen transient plume evidence and Clipper could sample plume material directly if it intersects one during flybys.