Bernd Abel is a new Affiliate of the Europa Clipper Science Team

Congratulations to newest Europa Clipper science team affiliates! Prof. Bernd Abel who holds the SPACE ERA Chair at the Heyrovský Institute in Prague is now official member of the science team for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, one of the agency’s flagship planetary missions. This recognition highlights particularly the expertise of the team at the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of Czech Academy of Sciences.

Bernd Abel’s team will enhance the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) data analysis by providing suitable analogue experiments and technology. A database will be developed together with the international colleagues that will allow scientists to interpret future SUDA measurements. SUDA is one of the key scientific instruments on board Europa Clipper and will analyze dust and ice particles ejected from the surface of Jupiter’s moons, such as Europa. 

“The affiliation is a logic consequence of the long-standing close collaboration between us and several PIs of the Europa Clipper science team, and in particular of the SUDA science team”, said Bernd Abel.

About the Europa Clipper Mission and the SUDA Instrument

Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter, is believed to hide a large subsurface ocean beneath its thick ice crust. This makes it one of the most promising ice worlds in our solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life. In addition to the contact of the surface ice with the hidden ocean, the moon is constantly bombarded by micrometeorites. These and expected plumes blast tiny fragments of surface and sub-surface material into surrounding space that can be captured and analyzed by SUDA in flybys. If Europa has active plumes, SUDA could directly sample their particles and reveal the chemistry of material potentially originating from the subsurface ocean. Altogether, it would provide key clues about Europa’s ocean composition and its potential habitability.