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Life in the Cosmos > Europa > Flashcards

Europa Flashcards

1
Q

Which missions have gone to Europa

A

Pioner 10 and 11 - 1973
Voyager 1 and 2 - 1979
Galileo space probe - 1995
New Horizons - 2007

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1
Q

What did the Galileo space probe do?

A

First orbit of Jupiter and released probe into it
Focused on Europa for two years

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2
Q

What are the 4 largest Moons of jupiter?

A

Ganyemede
Callisto
Io
Europa

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3
Q

What are the properties of Io?

A

Highest density
Driest object in solar system
400 active volcanoes

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4
Q

What are the properties of Ganyemede?

A

Largest moon in SS
Has magnetosphere
Has dark cratered surface and lighter cross cut surface
Salty ocean under crust of ice

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5
Q

What are the properties of Callisto?

A

Second largest moon
Most heavily cratered object in SS
White spots against dark regions
May have subsurface ocean

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6
Q

How is Europa locked to Jupiter?

A

Tidally

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7
Q

How many of Jupiters moons are in orbital resonance?

A

3

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8
Q

How does tidal effect work?

A
  • Each moon receives tug from its neighbours at same point causing more elliptical orbit
  • Tidal forces from Jupiter circularise their orbits
  • eccentricity of the orbits causes regular flexing which heats the moons interior through friction
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9
Q

What are the properties of Europa?

A

3122km diameter
Water ice surface
Very smooth
Silicate rock with iron core
Thin atmosphere of oxygen

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10
Q

What are Europa’s surface features like?

A

Dark streaks crossing it
Resembles sea ice on Earth

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11
Q

When are most of the surface features from?

A

Past 50 million years

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12
Q

What are the cracks caused by?

A

tectonic stress and melted and refrozen ice

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13
Q

How big are crustal plates that break up and rides on the surface?

A

8 miles across plates
Ridges of 1.6 miles wide from a fault in the ice

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14
Q

What is a possible internal structure of Europa?

A

Iron core + rocky interior
Outer layer of water

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15
Q

What could be the sources of internal heat?

A

Tidal friction
Radioactive decay

16
Q

How would the core heat melt the ice?

A

Conduction from the core - 5 kelvin per km lost in heat
At depth of 30km it would be high enough to melt ice

17
Q

What could be a source of biogenic elements within Europas oceans?

A

Hydrothermal systems
Silicate minerals from the rocky core

18
Q

What formed Europas thin oxygen atmosphere?

A

Sunlight and charged particles interacting with water on the surface

19
Q

What is Lake vostok?

A

Largest sub-glacial lake in Antarctica
Discovered in 1970s

20
Q

How is it a Europa analogy?

A

Prescence of fresh water 4km beneath ice
Water temp is around -3c

21
Q

How does lake vostok stay liquid?

A

High pressure from overlying ice
Geothermal heat from below

22
Q

How many sub-glacial lakes in Antarctica?

A

140

23
Q

How often and how is the lake water replaced?

A

Every 13,300 years
Freezing and then carried away by antarctic ice sheet motion as its replaced by other melting ice

24
Q

What ice cores were drilled to reach the lake?

A

3600m deep
Halted 100m above lake

25
Q

What was found in the ice cores?

A

Microbial life all the way down ice cores
0.5 million yeas old
Found in ice migrating up from the lake

26
Q

What microbes were found from lake vostok?

A
  • Regular bacteria
  • Many cyanobacteria with lots of toxic heavy metals
27
Q

What did the finding of microbial life in the lake show?

A

extremely cold, dark environment cut off from nutrients can still support life

28
Q

What explains Europas induced magnetic field?

A

Subsurface salt-water ocean that encompasses the whole planet

29
Q

What was the Galileo spacecraft?

A

Orbit and entry probe
1989
Orbited Jupiter 34 times before entering it

30
Q

What are the future missions to Europa?

A

Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer
Europe clipper
Europa Lander

Life in the Cosmos (18 decks)

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