Scientists at NIST in Gaithersburg have assisted in a breakthrough by researchers at NASA's California Jet Propulsion Laboratory in predicting the composition of ice on the moon Europa by its glowing colors. The Europa Clipper spacecraft, launching later this decade, will study this among other details. NIST's Fred Bateman exposed ice samples to radiation beams at the institute's Medical Industrial Radiation Facility, and observed different levels of glow emanate from the samples depending upon their composition.
"Seeing the sodium chloride brine with a significantly lower level of glow was the 'aha' moment that changed the course of the research," Bateman said in a NASA press release. Unlike our moon, Europa glows even on its dark side without light from the sun. "If Europa weren't under this radiation, it would look the way our moon looks to us - dark on the shadowed side," JPL's Murthy Gudipati said. "But because it's bombarded by the radiation from Jupiter, it glows in the dark."
Measurements made with the help of Bateman at NIST may well assist identification of salty components on the icy moon's surface when Europa Clipper arrives, NASA predicts.
Photo courtesy NASA
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