UPDATES ON THE EUROPA LANDER MISSION CONCEPT

Following a charter from NASA HQ, a 21-person team of scientists initially convened in June of 2016 and worked to establish the science goals, objectives, investigations, measurement requirements, and model payload for a landed Europa mission concept. The Europa Lander Science Definition Team (SDT) then worked with engineers to refine these requirements into a viable Europa Lander mission concept, and published the Europa Lander Study 2016 report[1]. Since completion of the report, the Europa Lander mission concept team has refined the mission concept through a Mission Concept Review (MCR) and subsequently through the advice and oversight of an external advisory board that met in 2017. A final report of the board’s recommendations was presented to NASA HQ in late Fall 2017. Here we present on the latest status of the Europa Lander Study and its overarching goals.

The science of the Europa Lander mission concept remains largely constant with the 2016 SDT Report, with one important rescope that changes the first goal of the mission to a search for biosignatures on Europa, rather than a direct search for life. This rescope enables maximum science while minimizing complexity. The other SDT Report prioritized goals remain unchanged, and are 2) Assessing the habitability of Europa via in situ techniques uniquely available to a lander mission; and 3) Characterizing the surface and subsurface properties at the scale of the lander to support future exploration of Europa. The Europa Lander mission concept, with its model payload, is capable of achieving a suite of measurements such that if potential biosignatures are present on Europa’s surface they could be detected at levels comparable to those found in benchmark environments on Earth. Also, key geophysical measurements will be made to understand tidal motions and ice shell structure, including fractures, proximity of liquid water, and depth of the ocean. Local morphology and recently erupted material will also be observed. Importantly, even if no potential biosignatures are detected through these observations, the science return of the mission will significantly advance our fundamental understanding of Europa’s chemistry, geology, geophysics, and habitability.

[1]Europa Lander Study 2016 Report, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/docs/Europa_Lander_SD T_Report_2016.pdf.