The Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS) instrument is designed to scan the surface of Europa and identify areas of geologically recent resurfacing through the detection of subtle thermal anomalies. This 'heat detector' will provide high spatial resolution, multi-spectral thermal imaging of Europa to help detect active sites such as outflows and plumes. E-THEMIS will be launched on board the planned ''

Europa Clipper Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Eur ...

'' astrobiology mission to Jupiter's moon Europa in 2025. The E-THEMIS uses technology inherited from the THEMIS camera flown on board the 2001 ''

Mars Odyssey ''2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectro ...

'' orbiter, and the ''

OSIRIS-REx OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission. The mission's primary goal is to obtain a sample of at least from 101955 Bennu, a carbona ...

'' OTES instruments.

Overview

E-THEMIS will identify areas of geologically recent resurfacing through the detection of subtle thermal anomalies. E-THEMIS will be fabricated by Arizona State University with hardware contributions from Ball Aerospace Corporation, and Raytheon Vision Systems. The Principal Investigator is Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. One of the primary science objectives of the Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System (E-THEMIS) is to determine the regolith particle size, block abundance, and sub-surface layering for landing site assessment and surface process studies.A review of thermophysical surface models in preparation for E-THEMIS observations of Europa
Rathbun, Julie A.; Hayne, Paul O.; Howett, Carly; Mellon, Michael; Piqueux, Sylvain; Spencer, John R. ''American Astronomical Society'', DPS meeting #48, id.123.48 Published by the Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System. The E-THEMIS investigation is designed to characterize Europa's thermal behavior and identify any thermal anomalies due to recent or ongoing activity, which include multi-spectral infrared emission, at both day and night. To accomplish this, E-THEMIS will obtain thermal

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

images in three spectral bands from 7 to 70 μm at multiple times of day. Thermal anomalies on Europa may be manifestations of subsurface melting due to hot spots, shear heating on faults, and eruptions of liquid water, which can be imaged in the

infrared spectrum Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

. Europa's water is suspected to lie below the moon's ice crust.

Objectives

The specific objectives of the E-THEMIS investigation are: The instrument can identify active vents, if existing, at the 1-10 meter scale. A radiation-hardened integrated circuit will be incorporated to meet the radiation requirements.

References

{{Satellite and spacecraft instruments Space imagers Europa (moon) Europa Clipper