REMOTE
Congratulations, you have been chosen as the Remote (REM) officer for this important mission. Your job is to determine the best place for the probe to impact the surface of Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon. You will analyze three locations in hopes of determining which location provides the best opportunity to find signs of potential life on Europa. You will be communicating with the Ocean, Space Weather (SW), and Probe teams in order to successfully launch the probe.
Your objectives for this mission are:
- Analyze and determine the impact site for the probe, and
- Decide on locations for future Europa missions
You will need to follow every step in these TASK CARDS, without skipping a single step. If you find at any point that the readings from the spacecraft are not safe, you must inform the crew! Do not begin the first step until told to do so by the Mission Commander.
If you need assistance any point during the mission, send a message to “Help Desk” in the call software CHAT. They are there to answer your questions and provide help for the duration of the mission.
RESEARCH
Follow these directions for researching potential IMPACT SITES
- Read the notes from the previous Remote officer by clicking on the box labeled NOTES.
NOTES
Several independent lines of evidence have led scientists to conclude that Europa almost certainly has a global ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy crust. Europa’s rocky interior lies between the moon’s core and the ocean layer. As Europa flexes due to the gravity of Jupiter, ocean water might seep into the uppermost portion of the rocky layer to be heated and interact chemically with the rock, loading the water with minerals and organic (carbon-containing) compounds as it flows back into the bottom of the ocean through cracks or fissures. Such a process could supply the ocean with building blocks for life, and with materials that could serve as food for simple organisms.
Your job is to determine the best probe impact site that will allow the probe to most easily get to Europa’s water ocean. Diving deep into the water ocean will allow the probe to collect data to determine if the ocean has the components that could indicate life on the icy moon.
2. Answer the IMPACT SITE RESEARCH QUESTIONS below. Click “Submit” when you finish answering the questions.
IMPACT SITE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
OPEN RESEARCH QUESTIONS
IMPACT SITE
Follow these directions for researching and analyzing potential IMPACT SITES
1. Locate the CHAT in your call software.
2. Select “COM” from the drop-down menu.
3. Type the following message:
This is Remote. Please send the download code for the potential probe impact sites as soon as possible.
4. Once you have typed it in the CHAT, make sure to hit SEND or hit ENTER so that the COM officer can read it and deliver it to the Mission Commander.
5. Read the information on Europa’s surface features and tectonic activity by clicking on the box labeled SURFACE FEATURES.
SURFACE FEATURES
We are trying to get the probe to Europa’s water ocean as easily as possible. You will need to consider how the following features may ease the journey for the probe. Newer features represent areas on Europa’s surface that are stretched and pulled apart to allow new material to come up from the ocean underneath.
The surface of Europa appears to be very fresh and young by geological standards, less than 100 million years old. Because of tidal heating, Europa could have active venting of water vapor. Europa also has a fractured appearance resulting from flexing of the moon’s surface as it circles Jupiter on its oval-shaped orbit. The fractures open, close, and slide past each other with each orbit where the stress from the flexing is the highest.
In the past, the surface appears to have pulled open along some cracks and ridges, allowing huge tracts of warmer icy material to well up into the new gap and create banded patterns. Other features called “chaos” probably formed as slightly warmer blobs of ice and/or water migrated upward within the ice shell, eventually breaking apart the surface. Chaos features typically appear as regions that are reddish non-ice material along cracks and within areas where the surface has been deformed.
6. Once the Mission Commander has sent you the download code for the potential probe impact sites, open the IMPACT SITE DATA LOG and type in the code. Click “Next”.
7. Analyze the images. Complete the questions below the images.
NOTE: You will be receiving recommendations for probe impact sites by the OCEAN and SPACE WEATHER teams. Take these recommendations into account as you make your final decision for the probe impact site.
IMPACT SITE DATA LOG
OPEN DATA LOG
Notepad
IMPACT SITE
8. Locate the CHAT in your call software.
9. Select “COM”from the drop-down menu.
10. Type the following message:
This is REM. The probe impact site has been determined. The probe will be sent to ________________.
11. Once you have typed it in the CHAT, make sure to hit SEND or hit ENTER so that the COM officer can read it and deliver it to the Mission Commander.
12. Click “Submit” in the IMPACT SITE DATA LOG. Continue to the next section of your task cards.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
1. Locate the CHAT in your call software.
2. Select “Flight Director” from the drop-down menu.
3. Type the following message:
This is REM. I have completed my primary objective.
PROBE LAUNCH CODE
Follow these directions for sending the probe launch code to the PROBE team:
1. When a probe impact site is selected, open the PROBE LAUNCH DATA LOG below to find the PROBE LAUNCH CODE.
2. Locate the CHAT in your call software.
3. Select “PROBE” from the drop-down menu.
4. Type the following message:
The Probe Launch Code is ________________________.
5. Once you have typed it in the CHAT, make sure to hit SEND or hit ENTER.
6. When the Probe Launch Code has been sent, select “Yes” on the PROBE LAUNCH DATA LOG, then click “Submit.”
PROBE LAUNCH DATA LOG
OPEN DATA LOG
COORDINATES
Follow these directions to complete further research on Europa’s surface:
1. After sending the Probe Launch Code to the PROBE Team, open the COORDINATES DATA LOG to complete research for future Europa missions.
COORDINATES DATA LOG
OPEN DATA LOG
Notepad
COORDINATES
2. After you have located the coordinates for the 2 sites you think scientists should investigate in future missions, choose one of these sites as your first preference.
3. Space Weather will need to do a radiation analysis on this site. Locate the CHAT in your call software.
4. Select “SW” from the drop-down menu.
5. Type the following message, and fill in the blank with the coordinates for your site (ex. 45 N 165 W):
This is Remote. The coordinates for the future impact site are _______________ .
6. Scroll back up to the COORDINATES DATA LOG and click “Submit”
7. Locate the CHAT in your call software
8. Select “Flight Director” from the drop-down menu.
9. Type the following message:
This is Remote. I have completed all my tasks.
10. Once you have typed it in the chat, be sure to hit SEND or ENTER.
11. Wait quietly for any further instructions.