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An extraterrestrial submarine is a conceptual submarine designed for exploring surface or subsurface water on other planets or moons during space exploration.

History

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Jupiter's moons

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Europa

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In 1957, astronomers pointed a telescope at Jupiter's moon Europa and discovered evidence suggesting an abundance of water ice on its surface. The discovery was made using low-resolution infrared spectroscopic observations of Europa. Gerald Kuiper further confirmed this possibility by documenting water ice on both Europa and Ganymede in the same year.[1]

On December 3, 1973, Pioneer 10 flew past Europa at a distance of 321,000 km. While Pioneer 10 managed to take an image of Europa, it was too far away to capture a detailed photograph, though some albedo features were apparent.[2] On December 2, 1974, Pioneer 11 flew by Europa at a distance of 586,700 km but did not send back any images or data of the moon.[citation needed]

Processed using orange, blue, and violet filtered images of Europa taken by Voyager 2 on July 9, 1979

On March 5, 1979, Voyager 1 flew by Europa at a distance of 733,760 km.[3] The spacecraft took an image of Europa at a distance of 2.8 million km, revealing to scientists a lineated but un-cratered surface, which provided evidence of currently active geology. Scientists also noted a large amount of intersecting linear features in the low-resolution photos from Voyager 1.[4] Four months later, Voyager 2 flew by Europa at a distance of 205,720 km,[5] revealing more intricate details of the moon not yet seen by other spacecraft. Initially, scientists believed the large number of intersecting linear features seen in the low-resolution photos from Voyager 1 were deep cracks caused by crustal rifting or tectonic processes. However, closer high-resolution photos from Voyager 2 showed that these features lacked topographic relief, which led many to suggest that these cracks might be similar to ice floes on Earth, indicating that Europa might have a liquid water interior.[6] One scientist remarked that they "might have been painted on with a felt marker," suggesting that Europa may be a relatively young satellite. Additionally, the production of fresh ice or snow along Europa's cracks and glacier-like flows might remove evidence of crater impacts.[7][8] Europa is internally active due to tidal heating at a level about one-tenth that of Io. It is thought to have a thin crust of water ice, less than 30 km (19 mi) thick, possibly floating on a 50 km (31 mi)-deep ocean.[9][10]

The Galileo spacecraft, launched in October 1989 and inserted into Jupiter's orbit in December 1995, provided valuable data about Europa. Galileo confirmed the possibility of a subsurface ocean beneath Europa's ice shell using magnetic data, which suggested the presence of a saltwater-like ocean.[11][12][13][14][15] Additionally, the spacecraft discovered an exosphere composed of oxygen surrounding Europa.[16]

In 1997, a proposed mission to Europa was canceled. The mission's premise was to send a robotic spacecraft to orbit Europa, use a laser to illuminate its surface, and search for thin areas of ice. A submarine would then be deployed to land on Europa, drill or melt a borehole through the ice, and explore for signs of life.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "History - Mission — NASA's Europa Clipper". Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  2. ^ Fimmel, Richard O.; van Allen, James; Burgess, Eric (1980). Pioneer: First to Jupiter, Saturn, and Beyond (PDF). Washington D.C., USA: NASA / Ames. ASIN B000IRXYN0. Bibcode:1980NASSP.446.....F. NASA-SP-446.
  3. ^ "Voyager 1's great escape: The search for interstellar space". NASASpaceflight. Gebhardt Chris, Goldader Jeff. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Europa from 2,869,252 Kilometers". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 16 June 1999. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Voyager 2 - NASA Science". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  6. ^ Paul M. Schenk; William B. McKinnon (May 1989). "Fault offsets and lateral crustal movement on Europa: Evidence for a mobile ice shell". Icarus. 79 (1): 75–100. Bibcode:1989Icar...79...75S. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(89)90109-7.
  7. ^ Lindsey, Robert (10 July 1979). "Near Jupiter, Voyager 2 Uncovers Surprises". New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Voyager Fact Sheet". JPL. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  9. ^ "Voyager – Fact Sheet". NASA/JPL. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  10. ^ "Voyager – Fast Facts". NASA/JPL. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  11. ^ Rosaly M. C. Lopes; John R. Spencer. (2007). Io after Galileo : a new view of Jupiter's volcanic moon. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-34681-4.
  12. ^ P. Bond (2004). Stepping stones to the cosmos : the story of planetary exploration. New York ; Berlin: Springer. pp. 166–182. ISBN 978-0-387-40212-3.
  13. ^ "Galileo Project Information". Nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on May 27, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  14. ^ "Solar System Exploration: Galileo Legacy Site: Discovery Highlights". Solarsystem.nasa.gov. August 9, 2007. Archived from the original on November 2, 2004. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  15. ^ Daniel Fischer (1999). Mission Jupiter : the spectacular journey of the Galileo spacecraft. New York: Copernicus. ISBN 978-0-387-98764-4.
  16. ^ "Europa's Oxygen Exosphere and Its Magnetospheric Interaction". ScienceDirect. W.-H. Ip. April 1996. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  17. ^ "Icy bodies: Europa and elsewhere". OpenLearn. 28 June 1997. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
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