Ocean Worlds Exploration Program
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The Ocean Worlds Exploration Program (OWEP) is a
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
program to explore
ocean world An ocean world, ocean planet, panthalassic planet, maritime world, water world or aquaplanet, is a type of planet that contains a substantial amount of water in form of oceans, either beneath the surface, as subsurface oceans, or on the surfa ...
s in the
outer Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
that could possess
subsurface ocean Planetary oceanography also called exo-oceanography is the study of oceans on planets and moons other than Earth. Unlike other planetary sciences like astrobiology, astrochemistry and planetary geology, it only began after the discovery of undergr ...
s to assess their
habitability Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...
and to seek
biosignature A biosignature (sometimes called chemical fossil or molecular fossil) is any substance – such as an element, isotope, or molecule – or phenomenon that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attribute ...
s of simple
extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...
. Prime targets include
moons A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...
that harbor hidden oceans beneath a shell of ice:
Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...
,
Enceladus Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refl ...
, and Titan. A host of other bodies in the outer Solar System are inferred by a single type of observation or by theoretical modeling to have subsurface oceans. The US House Appropriations Committee approved the bill on May 20, 2015, and directed NASA to create the Ocean Worlds Exploration Program. The "Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds" (ROW) was started in 2016, and was presented in January 2019. The formal program is being implemented within the agency by supporting the ''
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 Europ ...
'' orbiter mission to Europa, and the ''Dragonfly'' mission to Titan. The program is also supporting concept studies for a proposed
Europa Lander The Europa Lander is a proposed astrobiology mission concept by NASA to send a Lander (spacecraft), lander to Europa (moon), Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. If funded and developed as a large strategic science mission, it would be launched ...
,Europa Lander.
Home Page at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) NASA. Accessed on 22 September 2019.
and concepts to explore the moon
Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...
.
Amanda Hendrix Amanda R. Hendrix (May 21, 1968) is an American planetary scientist known for her pioneering studies of solar system bodies at ultraviolet wavelengths. She is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. Her research interests include m ...
and Terry A. Hurford are the co-leads of the NASA Roadmaps to Oceans World Group.


History

The chief author of NASA's budget proposal is
John Culberson John Abney Culberson (born August 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2019. A Republican, he served in in large portions of western Houston and surrounding Har ...
, who was at the time the head of the science subcommittee in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
. In Spring 2015 he presented a budget request, creating the possibility of an all-new NASA mission program. The House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY2016 House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill on May 20, 2015. Therefore, the Committee directed NASA to create the Ocean Worlds Exploration Program whose primary goal is to discover extant life on another world using a mix of
Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
, New Frontiers and
Flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
class missions consistent with the recommendations of current and future
Planetary Science Decadal Survey The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a publication of the United States National Research Council produced for NASA and other United States Government Agencies such as the National Science Foundation.National Academy of Sciences, National Acade ...
s. In the FY2017 Budget Request, the committee recommended $348 million for "Outer Planets" and "Ocean Worlds," of which not less than $260 million is for the ''Europa Clipper'' orbiter and lander, with launch of the orbiter in 2025 and the potential
Europa Lander The Europa Lander is a proposed astrobiology mission concept by NASA to send a Lander (spacecraft), lander to Europa (moon), Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. If funded and developed as a large strategic science mission, it would be launched ...
shortly after. A 2017 technical analysis stated that the technical challenges are enormous, and that "Without a genuinely strategic program plan, the great promise of an OWEP cean Worlds Exploration Programis highly likely to remain unfulfilled." The Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) report was submitted and it was published in January 2019.


Science goals

On
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
, itself an ocean world, liquid water is essential to
life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
as we know it. A question is whether the dark, alien oceans of the outer Solar System could be habitable for simple life forms, and if so, what would their
biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
might be. The goals of the Ocean Worlds Exploration Program are to "identify ocean worlds, characterize their oceans, evaluate their habitability, search for life, and ultimately understand any life we find." Exploring these moons could help to answer the question of how life arose on Earth and whether it exists anywhere else in the Solar System. It may also be possible to find pre-biotic chemistry occurring, which could provide clues to how life started on Earth. Any life detected at the remote ocean worlds in the
outer Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
would likely have formed and evolved along an independent path from life on Earth, giving us a deeper understanding of the potential for life in the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
.
Oceanographers Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, Wind wave, waves, and geophysical flu ...
,
biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
s and astrobiologists are part of the team developing the strategy roadmap. The planning also considers implementing
planetary protection Planetary protection is a guiding principle in the design of an interplanetary mission, aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial body and the Earth in the case of sample-return missions. Planetary protection refle ...
measures to avoid contaminating extraterrestrial habitable environments with resilient stowaway bacteria on their landers.


Targets

Ocean worlds identified in the Solar System so far with reasonable certainty are the
major moon A planetary-mass moon is a planetary-mass object that is also a natural satellite. They are large and ellipsoidal (sometimes spherical) in shape. Two moons in the Solar System are larger than the planet Mercury (though less massive): Ganymede a ...
s
Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...
,
Enceladus Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refl ...
, Titan, Ganymede, and
Callisto Callisto most commonly refers to: *Callisto (mythology), a nymph *Callisto (moon), a moon of Jupiter Callisto may also refer to: Art and entertainment *''Callisto series'', a sequence of novels by Lin Carter *''Callisto'', a novel by Torsten Kro ...
. Of these, Europa and Enceladus have the highest priority because their icy shells are thinner than the others (Europa's is less than 10 km; Enceladus' is about 40 km) and there is some evidence their oceans are in contact with the rocky mantle, which could provide both energy and chemicals for life to form. Enceladus' ice crust has fractures at the south pole that allow ice and gas from the ocean to escape to space, where it has been sampled by
mass spectrometers Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...
aboard the ''Cassini'' Saturn orbiter with tantalizing results. Titan's ocean is the deepest, at 50 to 100 km, and no evidence for active plumes or ice volcanism have been observed. Bodies such as
Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...
,
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...
,
Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
, Miranda,
Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...
, and Dione are considered candidate ocean worlds, based on hints from limited spacecraft observations.


Missions

The Ocean Worlds Exploration Program (OWEP) is supporting the ''
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 Europ ...
'' orbiter mission to Europa, which is the first planned target of this program to be launched in 2024. The second is the ''Dragonfly'' mission to Titan. The program is also supporting concept studies for a proposed
Europa Lander The Europa Lander is a proposed astrobiology mission concept by NASA to send a Lander (spacecraft), lander to Europa (moon), Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. If funded and developed as a large strategic science mission, it would be launched ...
, and a concept to explore the moon Triton with ''Trident'', a mission selected as a finalist in NASA's Discovery Program in 2020.


See also

Astrobiology Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that investig ...
mission concepts to water worlds in the outer Solar System: *
Enceladus Explorer Enceladus Explorer (EnEx) is a planned interplanetary orbiter and lander mission equipped with a subsurface maneuverable ice melting probe suitable to assess the existence of life on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The astrobiology Enceladus Explorer pr ...
(EnEx) *
Enceladus Life Finder Enceladus Life Finder (ELF) is a proposed astrobiology mission concept for a NASA spacecraft intended to assess the habitability of the internal aquatic ocean of Enceladus, which is Saturn's sixth-largest moon and seemingly similar in chemical ...
(ELF) * Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability (ELSAH) * Explorer of Enceladus and Titan (E2T) *
Journey to Enceladus and Titan Journey to Enceladus and Titan (JET) is an astrobiology mission concept to assess the habitability potential of Enceladus and Titan, moons of Saturn. The JET orbiter concept was proposed in 2011 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to NASA's Discove ...
(JET) *
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is an interplanetary spacecraft in development by the European Space Agency (ESA) with Airbus Defence and Space as the main contractor. The mission will study three of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Ganymede ...
(JUICE) *
Laplace-P Laplace-P (formerly called Europa Lander) was a proposed orbiter and lander by the Russian Federal Space Agency designed to study the Jovian moon system and explore Ganymede with a lander. Initially proposed to launch with the European Jupite ...
*
Life Investigation For Enceladus Life Investigation For Enceladus (LIFE) was a proposed astrobiology mission concept that would capture icy particles from Saturn's moon Enceladus and return them to Earth, where they could be studied in detail for signs of life such as biomolecules ...
(LIFE) *
Neptune Odyssey Neptune Odyssey is an orbiter mission concept to study Neptune and its moons, particularly Triton. The orbiter would enter into a retrograde orbit of Neptune to facilitate simultaneous study of Triton and would launch an atmospheric probe to ...
*
Oceanus In Greek mythology, Oceanus (; grc-gre, , Ancient Greek pronunciation: , also Ὠγενός , Ὤγενος , or Ὠγήν ) was a Titan son of Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys, and the father of the river gods a ...
*
THEO Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...
*
Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer (TALISE) is a Spanish space probe proposed in 2012 that would splash-down in Ligeia Mare, the second largest lake on Saturn's moon Titan. TALISE would navigate across the lake for six months to one y ...
(TALISE) *
Titan Mare Explorer Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) is a proposed design for a lander for Saturn's moon Titan. TiME is a relatively low-cost, outer-planet mission designed to measure the organic constituents on Titan and would have performed the first nautical exploratio ...
(TiME) *
Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...
* Triton Hopper


References

{{Extraterrestrial life NASA programs Astrobiology