A pair of University of Michigan scientists were involved in the development of the recent launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper, which will study Jupiter’s moon, Europa.
Research professor of climate and space sciences, Dr. Margaret Kivelson, says her previous work on the Galileo probe, which confirmed the existence of water on Europa, inspired her to lead a team in developing the Europa Clipper’s magnetometer to return to Europa and learn more about its ocean.
“When you discover something interesting like that, you want to learn more. And we've had a limited number of encounters with Europa.”
Fellow U-M research professor, Dr. Xianzhe Jia, who helped engineer the magnetometer, says the device will use Europa’s magnetic field to study its ocean hidden beneath 100 kilometers of ice.
“We would like to understand how deep this ocean is, how thick this ocean might be, and how salty this water might be.”
The Europa Clipper is expected to arrive near Europa in seven years.
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