The shell of Jupiter's famous ice moon may be formed, in part, by pure underwater snow that floats up instead of falling down.
A new NASA orbiter, Europa Clipper, is set to launch in October 2024 to fly by the ice moon to see if it might be a suitable habitat for life. University of Texas at Austin scientists are leading the development of Europa Clipper's ice-penetrating radar instrument, which will peer into the ice sheet and the ocean just beneath it.They turned to Earth as an analogue, examining the two main ways ice forms under Antarctica's ice sheets.
In these conditions, Wolfenbarger found, frazil ice is quite common, particularly in spots where the ice thins in rifts or fractures. If frazil ice is also common on Europa, it could make a big difference in the composition of the moon's ice shell.
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