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Europa's surface composition and sputter‐produced ionosphere
Author(s) -
Johnson R. E.,
Killen R. M.,
Waite J. H.,
Lewis W. S.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/98gl02565
Subject(s) - regolith , astrobiology , sputtering , atmosphere (unit) , decomposition , ionosphere , ion , mass spectrometry , spacecraft , spectrometer , composition (language) , ionic bonding , materials science , atmospheric sciences , physics , environmental science , chemistry , geophysics , astronomy , thin film , meteorology , optics , nanotechnology , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
The efficient sputtering and decomposition of Europa's regolith by energetic charged particles produces an atmosphere representative of its surface composition. In addition to O 2 and H 2 from the decomposition of ice, we show that molecules representative of organics and salts will be present in ionic form at levels detectable using an ion mass spectrometer on an orbiting spacecraft. Such an instrument can also measure isotope ratios to determine surface age.