PDS: The Planetary Atmospheres NodeJovian System Data Analysis Program
Cover Page/Proposal Summary
ROSS-99 NRA 99-OSS-01
Date Due: 5/5/99
|
This proposal shall be used and disclosed for evaluation purposes only, and a copy of this Government notice shall be applied to any reproduction or abstract thereof. Any authorized restrictive notices that the submitter places on this proposal shall also be strictly complied with. Disclosure of this proposal for any reason outside the Government evaluation purposes shall be made only to the extent authorized by the Government. |
| Proposal Type: New Proposal |
| Proposal Category: Fields and Particles |
| Major Equipment Proposal? No |
| Do you intend to submit an Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) proposal? No |
| Proposal Title: |
| Studies for the Europagenic Plasma Source in Jupiter's Inner Magnetosphere during the Galileo Europa Mission |
| Abbreviated Proposal Title: |
| Europagenic Plasma Source during GEM |
| Principal Investigator: |
| Dr.
William Smyth Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. 840 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02139-3794 Phone: 617-547-6207 Fax: 617-661-6479 E-mail: smyth@aer.com |
| Signature | Date |
| _____________________________________ | ____________ |
| Co-Investigators and Collaborators: | |||
| Type | Name | Affiliation | |
| Sci Co-I | Dr. Mau C. Wong | Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. | mau@aer.com |
| Sci Co-I | Dr. Max L. Marconi | Fresh Pond Research Institute | marconi@freshpond.org |
| Sci Collab | Dr. Michael R. Combi | University of Michigan, Space Physics Research Laboratory | mcombi@engin.umich.edu |
| Sci Collab | Dr. William R. Paterson | University of Iowa | paterson@iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu |
| Sci Collab | Dr. Margaret G. Kivelson | University of California, Los Angeles | mkivelson@igpp.ucla.edu |
Proposal Summary:
The overall objective of this project is to advance our understanding of the three-dimensional nature of "pickup ions" created by electron impact ionization and charge exchange of gases from Europa, the "Europagenic plasma source," by studying their signatures captured by the Galileo plasma and magnetic field measurements acquired both upstream and downstream of the satellite during the Galileo Europa Mission (GEM) spacecraft encounters with Europa. To accomplish this objective, state-of-the-art three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model calculations, including advanced three-dimensional model calculations for the pickup ion sources, will be used to simulate the interactions of the plasma flow past the satellite and interpret the GEM measurements. The Europagenic pickup ions of interest are the water-group ions (H2O+, O2+, O+, H2+, H+) that are produced from Europa's primarily O2 atmosphere and bound corona, which also contain minor amounts of water-dissociated gas products that have, in addition, been liberated from the icy satellite surface by the bombardment of magnetospheric ions moving rapidly past the satellite. This research will significantly improve our physical understanding of the nature of (1) the magnetospheric plasma interaction with Europa and its atmosphere, corona, and escaping neutral gases, (2) the spatial distribution, production, and composition of Europagenic pickup ions near Europa, (3) the role of these pickup ions in altering the magnetic field, current systems, and plasma flow near the satellite, and (4) the spatial distribution of the plasma source on a larger circumplanetary scale and its impact upon the inner planetary magnetosphere. The proposed research is hence central to NASA's OSS Solar System Exploration theme, is particularly relevant to the ongoing interpretation of the Voyager, Ulysses, and Galileo spacecraft data for Jupiter, and is also relevant to the scientific goals of the upcoming Europa Orbiter Mission.
