[slides and audio] Exploring the Composition of Europa with the Upcoming Europa Clipper Mission

The upcoming NASA Europa Clipper mission aims to explore Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, with a primary goal of assessing its habitability. The mission will conduct comprehensive remote sensing and in situ investigations to study the moon's composition, including its surface, subsurface, atmosphere, and local space environment. Key objectives include understanding the distribution and sources of non-ice materials on the surface, characterizing the composition of the subsurface ice and ocean, and identifying potential plumes. The mission's scientific instruments, such as the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE), Europa Imaging System (EIS), Europa THERmal EMission Imaging System (E-THEMIS), and others, will provide detailed data on Europa's composition. The paper outlines the planned compositional studies, the synergistic investigations, and how the anticipated scientific return will advance our understanding of Europa's origin, evolution, and current state, ultimately contributing to the assessment of its habitability.The upcoming NASA Europa Clipper mission aims to explore Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, with a primary goal of assessing its habitability. The mission will conduct comprehensive remote sensing and in situ investigations to study the moon's composition, including its surface, subsurface, atmosphere, and local space environment. Key objectives include understanding the distribution and sources of non-ice materials on the surface, characterizing the composition of the subsurface ice and ocean, and identifying potential plumes. The mission's scientific instruments, such as the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE), Europa Imaging System (EIS), Europa THERmal EMission Imaging System (E-THEMIS), and others, will provide detailed data on Europa's composition. The paper outlines the planned compositional studies, the synergistic investigations, and how the anticipated scientific return will advance our understanding of Europa's origin, evolution, and current state, ultimately contributing to the assessment of its habitability.