The Europa Focus Group - founded 2001

Ronald Greeley , Chair
Department of Geological Sciences
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
greeley@asu.edu

The Europa Focus Group (EFG) is organized through Arizona State University and supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Astrobiology Institute, headquartered at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. It has been organized as an informal association of scientists and engineers to provide a forum for discussing Europa science and to foster collaborative research of this satellite of Jupiter in the astrobiological context.

The focus group functions through workshops, video-conferences, and electronic exchanges and is open to the scientific and engineering communities for participation. Suggestions for future workshops, collaborations, or other venues to foster astrobiological research for Europa are welcome.

The primary goal of the EFG involves developing the scientific rationale for missions to Europa to address astrobiological questions. Europa is a high-priority for future exploration. The Galileo mission has returned a wealth of information, confirming that this moon has a unique history and suggesting environments of interest to exobiology. Advances in knowledge for Europa require multidisciplinary investigations involving planetary scientists, sea-ice experts, chemists, and biologists familiar with ice-rich environments.

Previous Activities

An organizing workshop was held at NASA Ames Research Center in early February, 2001. It involved 65 participants, including invitees who have not previously been involved with planetary science. The workshop was organized around the following topics: 1) Europa and terrestrial analogs (sea-ice, etc.), 2) aqueous (liquid and ice) organic chemistry revelant to Europa, 3) strategies in the search for life at Europa, and 4) future exploration; needs, priorities.

The 4th and most recent meeting of the EFG, The Arctic Field Conference, was held in April 2003 at the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation in Alaska. This workshop was organized to provide participants the opportunity to observe sea-ice first-hand in order to have a better understanding of the differences and similarities of a terrrestrial ice province compared with Europa. Through an aerial reconnaissance and ground excurisions, participants gained a better appreciation of the physics, chemistry, and biology of sea ice.

The 3rd meeting of the EFG was held in May 2002 at the USGS facility in Flagstaff, Arizona to share information and research related to Europa, learn the latest on plans for future exploration, and to hear from the various sub-groups that were formed at the second workshop held in September 2001.

The September 2001 meeting of the EFG again met at the Flagstaff USGS facility in where scientific rationale for a landed mission on Europa was considered, and various studies were identified to be undertaken to support the astrobiological exploration of Europa.

The EFG has also met in special breakout sessions during the 2002 Astrobiology Science Conference at Ames and at the 2001 General Meeting of the NAI, held in Washington, D.C.

NASA Priorities

The results of this Focus Group are likely to influence the Europa Orbitor mission, currently scheduled for 2008; and potentially follow-on missions including landers.These activities address several goals outlined in the Astrobiology Roadmap:

• Linking Planetary & Biological Evolution
• Extremes of Life
• Life's Precursors & Habitats in the Outer Solar System
• Effects of Climate & Geology on Habitability

The search for extraterrestrial life means pushing the technological envelope. NASA has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, and in the sphere of astrobiology, the Europa Focus Group is helping to maintain that tradition.