P13E-03
The Europa Imaging System (EIS): High-Resolution, 3-D Insight into Europa’s Geology, Ice Shell, and Potential for Current Activity

Monday, 14 December 2015: 13:56
3002 (Moscone West)
Elizabeth P Turtle1, Alfred S McEwen2, Geoffrey Collins3, Leigh N. Fletcher4, Candice J Hansen5, Alexander Hayes6, Terry Hurford Jr7, Randolph L Kirk8, Amy Barr5, Francis Nimmo9, Gerald Patterson1, Lynnae C. Quick10, Jason M Soderblom11 and Nicolas Thomas12, (1)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (2)University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, (3)Wheaton College, Norton, MA, United States, (4)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (5)Planetary Science Institute Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States, (6)Cornell University, Department of Astronomy, Ithaca, NY, United States, (7)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (8)USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (9)University of California-Santa Cruz, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (10)NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (11)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, MA, United States, (12)University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Abstract:
The Europa Imaging System will transform our understanding of Europa through global decameter-scale coverage, three-dimensional maps, and unprecedented meter-scale imaging. EIS combines narrow-angle and wide-angle cameras (NAC and WAC) designed to address high-priority Europa science and reconnaissance goals. It will: (A) Characterize the ice shell by constraining its thickness and correlating surface features with subsurface structures detected by ice penetrating radar; (B) Constrain formation processes of surface features and the potential for current activity by characterizing endogenic structures, surface units, global cross-cutting relationships, and relationships to Europa's subsurface structure, and by searching for evidence of recent activity, including potential plumes; and (C) Characterize scientifically compelling landing sites and hazards by determining the nature of the surface at scales relevant to a potential lander.

The NAC provides very high-resolution, stereo reconnaissance, generating 2-km-wide swaths at 0.5-m pixel scale from 50-km altitude, and uses a gimbal to enable independent targeting. NAC observations also include: near-global (>95%) mapping of Europa at ≤50-m pixel scale (to date, only ~14% of Europa has been imaged at ≤500 m/pixel, with best pixel scale 6 m); regional and high-resolution stereo imaging at <1-m/pixel; and high-phase-angle observations for plume searches.

The WAC is designed to acquire pushbroom stereo swaths along flyby ground-tracks, generating digital topographic models with 32-m spatial scale and 4-m vertical precision from 50-km altitude. These data support characterization of cross-track clutter for radar sounding. The WAC also performs pushbroom color imaging with 6 broadband filters (350-1050 nm) to map surface units and correlations with geologic features and topography.

EIS will provide comprehensive data sets essential to fulfilling the goal of exploring Europa to investigate its habitability and perform collaborative science with other investigations, including cartographic and geologic maps, regional and high-resolution digital topography, GIS products, color and photometric data products, a geodetic control network tied to radar altimetry, and a database of plume-search observations.

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