EUROPA Ocean Workshop; November 12-14, 1996, San Juan Capistrano, California

OCE-9612530这次由美国国家航空航天局和美国国家科学基金会主办的会议将探讨与木卫二可能的海洋、海底火山活动和生物活动有关的想法。木卫二是木星的四颗伽利略大型卫星之一。数据和理论表明(尽管没有得到证实)，木卫二的冰壳下有一片液态水的海洋。木卫二经历了类似于驱动木卫一上壮观火山活动的潮汐加热，这种加热可能足以融化冰并维持海洋。会议将讨论的主题包括与海洋有关的地质和地球物理证据，以及它的物理状态可能是什么。如果木卫二上存在海洋，那么它是否能够支持生命的问题就会立即出现。旅行者号航天器对木卫二的第一次详细检查(1979年)与海洋学家对地球海底火山热液遗址的第一次详细调查非常接近。这项研究表明，在液态水存在的情况下，火山可以在没有来自太阳的能量的情况下维持生命。海底火山活动也是木卫二上的一种可能性。因此，这次会议的一个主要目的将是批判性地审查支持和反对木卫二海底火山活动的论点，以及这种活动可能也支持那里的生物活动。一个相关且有争议的话题是，生命是否可能起源于海底火山系统、地球和整个行星。这次会议将把行星科学、海洋学和外部生物学界聚集在一起，探讨这些话题。这次会议由NASA太阳系探索部门(Exobiology Program Office)和NSF海洋科学计划联合支持，还将讨论正在进行的和未来对木卫二的机器人探测。伽利略号航天器目前正在木星轨道上运行，并将在执行任务期间对木卫二进行多次飞越检查。后续的密西奥飞船可能会被空运到木卫二，详细说明海洋的存在，如果发现海洋存在的话，它将探索海洋。会议将讨论可用于这类任务的测量技术，以及它们对进一步太阳系探索的影响。

OCE-9612530 This NASA and NSF sponsored conference will explore ideas related to Europa's possible ocean, submarine volcanism, and biological activity. Europa is one of the four large Galilean satellites of Jupiter. Data and theory have suggested (though not proven) that Europa has an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust. Europa undergoes tidal heating similar to that driving the spectacular volcanism on the Jovian moon Io, and this heating may have been sufficient to melt the ice and maintain an ocean. Among the topics the conference will address are geologic and geophysical evidence concerning an ocean, and what its physical state might be. If an ocean exists on Europa, the question of whether it could support life immediately arises. The first detailed examination of Europa by the Voyager spacecraft (in 1979) coincided very closely with the first detailed investigation by oceanographers of volcano- hydrothermal sites on the Earth's seafloor. That work has shown that in the presence of liquid water, volcanoes can sustain life without energy from the sun. Submarine volcanism is also a possibility on Europa. A major purpose of the conference, then, will be to examine critically the arguments for and against submarine volcanism on Europa, and the likelihood that such activity could support biological activity there as well. A related and controversial topic is the issue of whether life can have originated at submarine volcanic systems, on Earth and on planets in general. The conference will bring together the planetary science, oceanography, and exobiology communities to explore these topics. The conference, jointly supported by NASA's Solar System Exploration Division (Exobiology Program Office) and NSF's Ocean Science Program, will also deal with ongoing and future robotic exploration of Europa. The Galileo spacecraft is now in orbit around Jupiter, and will make multiple flyby examinations of Europa during its mission. Follow-on missio ns could be flown to Europa that would address the existence of an ocean in detail, and that would explore the ocean the ocean if it were found to be present. The conference will address the measurement techniques that could be used on such missions, and their implications for further solar system exploration.