Europa’s Ice Shell (Artist’s Concept)

This artist’s concept depicts a cutaway view showing Europa’s ice shell. Data used to generate a new result on the ice thickness and structure was collected by the microwave radiometer instrument on NASA’s Juno during a close flyby of the Jovian moon on Sept. 29, 2022.

PIA25630

Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/Koji Kuramura/ Gerald Eichstädt (CC BY)

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Europa’s Ice Shell (Artist’s Concept)

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Description

This artist’s concept depicts a cutaway view showing Europa’s ice shell. It contains a shallow layer of small imperfections (cracks, pores, and voids) that extend down from the surface hundreds of feet. The icy moon of Jupiter is thought to harbor an ocean below its frozen exterior.

Data used to generate a new result on the ice thickness and structure was collected by the microwave radiometer instrument on NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on Sept. 29, 2022.

More information about Juno is online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu

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