1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:29,669 [Music] 2 00:00:34,630 --> 00:00:31,269 greetings my friends and 3 00:00:36,790 --> 00:00:34,640 perhaps fellow fans of icy worlds 4 00:00:39,030 --> 00:00:36,800 uh welcome to ask an astrobiologist the 5 00:00:41,670 --> 00:00:39,040 show that celebrates the science 6 00:00:43,670 --> 00:00:41,680 and celebrates the scientists involved 7 00:00:44,549 --> 00:00:43,680 in our quest to understand the nature of 8 00:00:46,790 --> 00:00:44,559 life 9 00:00:48,470 --> 00:00:46,800 i'm dr graham lau also known online as 10 00:00:50,790 --> 00:00:48,480 the cosmobiologist and 11 00:00:51,750 --> 00:00:50,800 perhaps more recently as astro beef for 12 00:00:52,950 --> 00:00:51,760 some reason 13 00:00:55,750 --> 00:00:52,960 uh and we're brought to you by 14 00:00:56,869 --> 00:00:55,760 seganet.org and the nasa astrobiology 15 00:00:58,790 --> 00:00:56,879 program 16 00:00:59,990 --> 00:00:58,800 and i'm really really excited about 17 00:01:02,229 --> 00:01:00,000 today's episode 18 00:01:04,630 --> 00:01:02,239 uh there's been a lot of love for mars 19 00:01:06,630 --> 00:01:04,640 in the news lately in astrobiology 20 00:01:07,990 --> 00:01:06,640 but you know we have to have our dose of 21 00:01:10,390 --> 00:01:08,000 good icy worlds 22 00:01:11,429 --> 00:01:10,400 ocean worlds and some europa to talk 23 00:01:13,670 --> 00:01:11,439 about 24 00:01:15,350 --> 00:01:13,680 but first we have to do our usual house 25 00:01:17,670 --> 00:01:15,360 cleaning activity of 26 00:01:18,469 --> 00:01:17,680 sending out a huge shout out and thanks 27 00:01:21,510 --> 00:01:18,479 to those of you 28 00:01:23,350 --> 00:01:21,520 who share about our show online 29 00:01:25,590 --> 00:01:23,360 uh who talk about the show who engage 30 00:01:27,109 --> 00:01:25,600 with our guests through social media by 31 00:01:28,469 --> 00:01:27,119 emailing them by learning more about 32 00:01:30,310 --> 00:01:28,479 their research 33 00:01:32,149 --> 00:01:30,320 we have some ambassadors from twitter 34 00:01:33,910 --> 00:01:32,159 we'd like to mention for this month 35 00:01:36,310 --> 00:01:33,920 uh we'd like to say give a huge shout 36 00:01:39,590 --> 00:01:36,320 out to jason gilchrist 37 00:01:42,789 --> 00:01:39,600 origin center netherland denise 38 00:01:45,190 --> 00:01:42,799 and navino saranji on twitter uh these 39 00:01:47,109 --> 00:01:45,200 users have shared about our show 40 00:01:48,950 --> 00:01:47,119 have helped us to get the word out about 41 00:01:51,429 --> 00:01:48,960 ask an astrobiologist and all the 42 00:01:53,270 --> 00:01:51,439 awesome work of those who are joining us 43 00:01:54,630 --> 00:01:53,280 now like i mentioned i'm super excited 44 00:01:57,590 --> 00:01:54,640 for this episode 45 00:02:00,149 --> 00:01:57,600 joining me today is dr cynthia phillips 46 00:02:02,469 --> 00:02:00,159 of nasa's jet propulsion laboratory 47 00:02:04,550 --> 00:02:02,479 dr phillips is an expert in the 48 00:02:05,590 --> 00:02:04,560 geological processes that are occurring 49 00:02:07,590 --> 00:02:05,600 on moons 50 00:02:09,109 --> 00:02:07,600 like the icy worlds and the ocean worlds 51 00:02:11,510 --> 00:02:09,119 of our solar system 52 00:02:12,710 --> 00:02:11,520 she's also a project staff scientist on 53 00:02:14,790 --> 00:02:12,720 the europa clipper 54 00:02:17,110 --> 00:02:14,800 and the deputy project scientist for the 55 00:02:18,710 --> 00:02:17,120 europa lander concept design 56 00:02:20,790 --> 00:02:18,720 and so i'm super excited to narrow out 57 00:02:21,430 --> 00:02:20,800 with her about everything europa and icy 58 00:02:22,949 --> 00:02:21,440 worlds 59 00:02:24,949 --> 00:02:22,959 uh dr phillips welcome to ask an 60 00:02:27,030 --> 00:02:24,959 astrobiologist awesome thanks so much 61 00:02:28,229 --> 00:02:27,040 for having me here i'm super excited 62 00:02:30,949 --> 00:02:28,239 awesome yeah i mean it's just so much 63 00:02:32,869 --> 00:02:30,959 fun stuff to talk about with europa 64 00:02:34,869 --> 00:02:32,879 but i usually with our guests i love to 65 00:02:36,470 --> 00:02:34,879 first just since we have a lot of young 66 00:02:38,150 --> 00:02:36,480 people we have high school students and 67 00:02:39,750 --> 00:02:38,160 undergraduate students who 68 00:02:41,589 --> 00:02:39,760 are getting into science maybe for the 69 00:02:43,190 --> 00:02:41,599 first time maybe they're just finding 70 00:02:44,710 --> 00:02:43,200 out about astrobiology 71 00:02:46,949 --> 00:02:44,720 and so we like to tell them about the 72 00:02:47,910 --> 00:02:46,959 careers of of the the scientists who 73 00:02:49,350 --> 00:02:47,920 join us 74 00:02:51,509 --> 00:02:49,360 and so i'd love if you wouldn't mind 75 00:02:52,790 --> 00:02:51,519 just sharing with us maybe your science 76 00:02:54,470 --> 00:02:52,800 origin story 77 00:02:57,030 --> 00:02:54,480 the thing that really kicked you off uh 78 00:02:59,350 --> 00:02:57,040 towards your career that you have now 79 00:03:00,070 --> 00:02:59,360 sure yeah so i grew up in a in a suburb 80 00:03:02,710 --> 00:03:00,080 of boston 81 00:03:03,990 --> 00:03:02,720 and so i i came from a family a proud 82 00:03:05,670 --> 00:03:04,000 family of science nerds 83 00:03:07,270 --> 00:03:05,680 and so you know we were all into math 84 00:03:07,990 --> 00:03:07,280 and science and reading and all that 85 00:03:10,229 --> 00:03:08,000 stuff 86 00:03:12,309 --> 00:03:10,239 and my dad was a was this amateur 87 00:03:14,229 --> 00:03:12,319 astronomer and so he had a telescope 88 00:03:15,910 --> 00:03:14,239 and he would always you know he'd be 89 00:03:18,070 --> 00:03:15,920 he'd be trying to find 90 00:03:19,589 --> 00:03:18,080 some you know nebula or galaxy or 91 00:03:21,910 --> 00:03:19,599 something and so he'd spend hours 92 00:03:23,990 --> 00:03:21,920 setting up his telescope in our backyard 93 00:03:25,190 --> 00:03:24,000 and he'd drag us out and somehow it was 94 00:03:26,630 --> 00:03:25,200 always the middle of the night 95 00:03:28,789 --> 00:03:26,640 it was always like the middle of winter 96 00:03:30,309 --> 00:03:28,799 it was freezing cold we'd go out there 97 00:03:31,830 --> 00:03:30,319 we'd look and he was you know he was so 98 00:03:33,509 --> 00:03:31,840 proud that he'd managed to find this 99 00:03:34,229 --> 00:03:33,519 nebula in his telescope we'd go out and 100 00:03:36,390 --> 00:03:34,239 look 101 00:03:38,070 --> 00:03:36,400 and it was always so disappointing for 102 00:03:38,869 --> 00:03:38,080 me because it was like this little fuzzy 103 00:03:41,350 --> 00:03:38,879 blob 104 00:03:42,229 --> 00:03:41,360 right and so you know my dad's amazing i 105 00:03:44,630 --> 00:03:42,239 love him but 106 00:03:46,229 --> 00:03:44,640 i was just i was so unimpressed right i 107 00:03:47,430 --> 00:03:46,239 was like i loved astronomy i loved the 108 00:03:49,190 --> 00:03:47,440 whole idea 109 00:03:50,869 --> 00:03:49,200 of there being something out there you 110 00:03:52,630 --> 00:03:50,879 know beyond the earth but 111 00:03:53,990 --> 00:03:52,640 i was just you know i wasn't impressed 112 00:03:56,949 --> 00:03:54,000 with these galaxies 113 00:03:57,350 --> 00:03:56,959 and so i was in um high school when the 114 00:03:59,190 --> 00:03:57,360 um 115 00:04:01,190 --> 00:03:59,200 when the voyager spacecraft flew past 116 00:04:01,670 --> 00:04:01,200 neptune and this is back you know there 117 00:04:03,589 --> 00:04:01,680 was no 118 00:04:05,270 --> 00:04:03,599 internet right it was you know it wasn't 119 00:04:08,309 --> 00:04:05,280 the dark ages but 120 00:04:08,949 --> 00:04:08,319 the only way that we could see the 121 00:04:10,229 --> 00:04:08,959 pictures 122 00:04:12,470 --> 00:04:10,239 that were taken by the voyager 123 00:04:14,550 --> 00:04:12,480 spacecraft was the scientists who were 124 00:04:16,390 --> 00:04:14,560 on the team actually had to go to jpl 125 00:04:18,310 --> 00:04:16,400 and i had no idea what a jpl was back 126 00:04:20,069 --> 00:04:18,320 then but you know to me it was like this 127 00:04:22,710 --> 00:04:20,079 mystical place and so 128 00:04:23,110 --> 00:04:22,720 on tv like on pbs they had basically a 129 00:04:25,510 --> 00:04:23,120 live 130 00:04:27,030 --> 00:04:25,520 feed from the jpl control room of all 131 00:04:27,990 --> 00:04:27,040 these scientists like sitting around 132 00:04:30,150 --> 00:04:28,000 these big tv 133 00:04:32,150 --> 00:04:30,160 monitors waiting for the pictures to 134 00:04:34,870 --> 00:04:32,160 come in from neptune and 135 00:04:36,710 --> 00:04:34,880 this is the first time that humans had 136 00:04:38,070 --> 00:04:36,720 ever seen neptune or any of its 137 00:04:39,670 --> 00:04:38,080 satellites up close 138 00:04:41,189 --> 00:04:39,680 we'd never seen them right it was just 139 00:04:42,950 --> 00:04:41,199 this little point of light this really 140 00:04:45,350 --> 00:04:42,960 faint point of light in the sky 141 00:04:47,350 --> 00:04:45,360 and so suddenly as these pictures came 142 00:04:48,950 --> 00:04:47,360 in these little kind of dots of light 143 00:04:50,310 --> 00:04:48,960 they turned into worlds like they turned 144 00:04:52,390 --> 00:04:50,320 into places 145 00:04:53,909 --> 00:04:52,400 and i remember just watching this i 146 00:04:55,030 --> 00:04:53,919 managed to persuade my parents let me 147 00:04:56,310 --> 00:04:55,040 stay up 148 00:04:57,990 --> 00:04:56,320 they had something called neptune all 149 00:04:59,670 --> 00:04:58,000 night so basically they just had a live 150 00:05:00,629 --> 00:04:59,680 feed that went all night on pbs from the 151 00:05:02,070 --> 00:05:00,639 control room 152 00:05:03,909 --> 00:05:02,080 and you know we didn't have a vcr or 153 00:05:05,670 --> 00:05:03,919 anything so you know i was a persuasive 154 00:05:07,029 --> 00:05:05,680 kid and i and i persuaded my parents let 155 00:05:08,230 --> 00:05:07,039 me stay up and watch this thing so i 156 00:05:08,710 --> 00:05:08,240 remember it's like the middle of the 157 00:05:10,550 --> 00:05:08,720 night 158 00:05:12,710 --> 00:05:10,560 carl sagan is there and you know carl 159 00:05:14,230 --> 00:05:12,720 sagan right he's on the science team 160 00:05:16,150 --> 00:05:14,240 he's watching these pictures come in and 161 00:05:18,150 --> 00:05:16,160 one of these like crazy looking pictures 162 00:05:20,150 --> 00:05:18,160 of one of the moons of neptune 163 00:05:21,830 --> 00:05:20,160 comes up on this tv screen and i 164 00:05:22,870 --> 00:05:21,840 remember carl sagan looking at and 165 00:05:25,670 --> 00:05:22,880 saying wow 166 00:05:27,670 --> 00:05:25,680 i have no idea what that is and to me 167 00:05:30,790 --> 00:05:27,680 that was like my eureka moment okay 168 00:05:32,230 --> 00:05:30,800 i was like if carl sagan 169 00:05:33,670 --> 00:05:32,240 the best you know the most amazing 170 00:05:34,950 --> 00:05:33,680 scientist in the world you know in my 171 00:05:37,909 --> 00:05:34,960 opinion then 172 00:05:38,710 --> 00:05:37,919 um if he doesn't know what's going on in 173 00:05:41,510 --> 00:05:38,720 this moon 174 00:05:41,909 --> 00:05:41,520 there are still things left undiscovered 175 00:05:44,150 --> 00:05:41,919 right 176 00:05:45,510 --> 00:05:44,160 there are still places that humans have 177 00:05:48,070 --> 00:05:45,520 never seen before 178 00:05:48,950 --> 00:05:48,080 and i was just hooked i was like i want 179 00:05:51,749 --> 00:05:48,960 to do that 180 00:05:53,189 --> 00:05:51,759 i want to be in the control room at jpl 181 00:05:54,950 --> 00:05:53,199 watching the pictures come in for the 182 00:05:56,230 --> 00:05:54,960 first time the first time that we see a 183 00:05:58,309 --> 00:05:56,240 new world 184 00:06:00,390 --> 00:05:58,319 and you know with a bunch of twists and 185 00:06:01,350 --> 00:06:00,400 turns it's still amazing to me as an 186 00:06:03,029 --> 00:06:01,360 adult now i 187 00:06:04,550 --> 00:06:03,039 look back at that starry eyed high 188 00:06:06,790 --> 00:06:04,560 school student and i'm like 189 00:06:08,550 --> 00:06:06,800 i made it right i work at jbl i still 190 00:06:10,629 --> 00:06:08,560 have to pinch myself sometimes 191 00:06:11,830 --> 00:06:10,639 when i think about the fact that i'm 192 00:06:14,309 --> 00:06:11,840 there 193 00:06:15,830 --> 00:06:14,319 i love that so much um and how 194 00:06:16,309 --> 00:06:15,840 incredible you know that that thing that 195 00:06:17,749 --> 00:06:16,319 kind of 196 00:06:20,629 --> 00:06:17,759 got you into it really in the first 197 00:06:22,469 --> 00:06:20,639 place um i also so we often tell 198 00:06:23,990 --> 00:06:22,479 young students who are interested in 199 00:06:25,270 --> 00:06:24,000 being involved in astrobiology who have 200 00:06:27,270 --> 00:06:25,280 those kinds of eureka moments of their 201 00:06:28,629 --> 00:06:27,280 own where they realize that science is 202 00:06:30,469 --> 00:06:28,639 we're still discovering things we're 203 00:06:32,070 --> 00:06:30,479 still asking big questions and 204 00:06:33,590 --> 00:06:32,080 trying to understand the answers that 205 00:06:35,270 --> 00:06:33,600 we're getting um 206 00:06:36,950 --> 00:06:35,280 we understand that when you were younger 207 00:06:39,189 --> 00:06:36,960 you were very motivated to reach out to 208 00:06:40,469 --> 00:06:39,199 scientists to ask more questions 209 00:06:42,390 --> 00:06:40,479 and that you even had a chance to go to 210 00:06:43,189 --> 00:06:42,400 greenland on a trip once when you're in 211 00:06:44,390 --> 00:06:43,199 high school 212 00:06:46,629 --> 00:06:44,400 would you mind talking about that for 213 00:06:48,550 --> 00:06:46,639 our audience yeah sure so so 214 00:06:49,749 --> 00:06:48,560 you know again i was a pretty persuasive 215 00:06:52,790 --> 00:06:49,759 kid when i was in high school 216 00:06:54,230 --> 00:06:52,800 and so um i knew that 217 00:06:55,749 --> 00:06:54,240 i knew that i wanted to like i was 218 00:06:57,270 --> 00:06:55,759 obsessed with science i knew that i 219 00:06:59,589 --> 00:06:57,280 wanted to do science but 220 00:07:01,430 --> 00:06:59,599 to me i didn't really know what science 221 00:07:02,070 --> 00:07:01,440 was right is science looking through a 222 00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:02,080 telescope 223 00:07:05,589 --> 00:07:03,520 is science looking at this picture that 224 00:07:06,390 --> 00:07:05,599 comes in you know what does it mean to 225 00:07:10,629 --> 00:07:06,400 do science 226 00:07:11,029 --> 00:07:10,639 and so i i saved up all of my batman's 227 00:07:12,550 --> 00:07:11,039 money 228 00:07:14,469 --> 00:07:12,560 right and so this was the you know like 229 00:07:15,909 --> 00:07:14,479 the 1980s right and so 230 00:07:17,670 --> 00:07:15,919 you know you could you could put you 231 00:07:19,029 --> 00:07:17,680 could put money in a bank account and it 232 00:07:20,710 --> 00:07:19,039 you know interest rates were high right 233 00:07:23,430 --> 00:07:20,720 so you know you could do pretty well 234 00:07:24,870 --> 00:07:23,440 so a couple years later um i was looking 235 00:07:27,110 --> 00:07:24,880 at something called earthwatch which is 236 00:07:28,390 --> 00:07:27,120 this program that basically lets like 237 00:07:30,150 --> 00:07:28,400 it was sort of one of the first citizen 238 00:07:30,870 --> 00:07:30,160 scientist programs back before that was 239 00:07:32,950 --> 00:07:30,880 a thing 240 00:07:33,990 --> 00:07:32,960 the idea was basically you know like you 241 00:07:35,350 --> 00:07:34,000 could just 242 00:07:37,029 --> 00:07:35,360 random members of the public could go 243 00:07:38,230 --> 00:07:37,039 along and help scientists on some kind 244 00:07:40,309 --> 00:07:38,240 of expedition 245 00:07:41,749 --> 00:07:40,319 and so i got this catalog like i wrote 246 00:07:43,270 --> 00:07:41,759 away you know i got this catalog that 247 00:07:44,309 --> 00:07:43,280 came again pre-internet i can just 248 00:07:45,990 --> 00:07:44,319 google things 249 00:07:48,070 --> 00:07:46,000 um but i got this catalog and i spent 250 00:07:50,390 --> 00:07:48,080 like weeks just pouring over it 251 00:07:52,710 --> 00:07:50,400 and i was like okay where's a place that 252 00:07:54,710 --> 00:07:52,720 i probably will never get to go 253 00:07:56,790 --> 00:07:54,720 in my life right and so you know i 254 00:07:58,790 --> 00:07:56,800 looked at like the jungles of borneo to 255 00:08:00,230 --> 00:07:58,800 go work with like you know gorillas or 256 00:08:01,909 --> 00:08:00,240 chimpanzees or something 257 00:08:04,150 --> 00:08:01,919 and then i saw this one that was looking 258 00:08:06,869 --> 00:08:04,160 for plant fossils in greenland 259 00:08:09,350 --> 00:08:06,879 and i don't know it just it completely 260 00:08:12,469 --> 00:08:09,360 just grabbed my mind that i was like wow 261 00:08:14,150 --> 00:08:12,479 i could go to greenland and you know 262 00:08:15,990 --> 00:08:14,160 i figured that green i mean greenland's 263 00:08:18,150 --> 00:08:16,000 pretty safe right there's like you know 264 00:08:19,029 --> 00:08:18,160 a few tens of thousands of people there 265 00:08:20,550 --> 00:08:19,039 right there's no 266 00:08:22,309 --> 00:08:20,560 you know i figured that that would be an 267 00:08:23,670 --> 00:08:22,319 easier sell with my parents than going 268 00:08:25,909 --> 00:08:23,680 to the jungle somewhere 269 00:08:27,670 --> 00:08:25,919 so and and and yeah and so is this 270 00:08:28,150 --> 00:08:27,680 expedition where basically you could go 271 00:08:30,150 --> 00:08:28,160 and 272 00:08:31,909 --> 00:08:30,160 look for you know you're digging up 273 00:08:33,589 --> 00:08:31,919 rocks um you're looking for these late 274 00:08:35,190 --> 00:08:33,599 cretaceous plant fossils and 275 00:08:37,110 --> 00:08:35,200 you know i was led by the scientists who 276 00:08:39,110 --> 00:08:37,120 basically had an idea that you could 277 00:08:40,550 --> 00:08:39,120 use like the size of the leaves and the 278 00:08:41,670 --> 00:08:40,560 serrations of them to figure out the 279 00:08:43,029 --> 00:08:41,680 light levels which you can 280 00:08:44,710 --> 00:08:43,039 be tracked the fact that greenland was 281 00:08:46,470 --> 00:08:44,720 much closer to the equator 282 00:08:48,230 --> 00:08:46,480 when in the late cretaceous than it is 283 00:08:49,990 --> 00:08:48,240 now like there's this tropical basically 284 00:08:52,070 --> 00:08:50,000 foliage we were finding 285 00:08:53,509 --> 00:08:52,080 so yeah so i somehow persuaded my 286 00:08:55,829 --> 00:08:53,519 parents and now you know 287 00:08:56,630 --> 00:08:55,839 i i'm a parent right so i mean i have 288 00:08:58,470 --> 00:08:56,640 kids who are 289 00:08:59,910 --> 00:08:58,480 you know my oldest is 22 now right so i 290 00:09:00,870 --> 00:08:59,920 mean i have kids who've gone through the 291 00:09:02,949 --> 00:09:00,880 teenage years 292 00:09:04,389 --> 00:09:02,959 and looking back i'm like how did my 293 00:09:06,389 --> 00:09:04,399 parents how did i 294 00:09:08,070 --> 00:09:06,399 how did they agree to this right how did 295 00:09:09,910 --> 00:09:08,080 they agree to send me to the middle of 296 00:09:11,670 --> 00:09:09,920 nowhere in greenland for 297 00:09:13,190 --> 00:09:11,680 you know two months in the summer when i 298 00:09:15,110 --> 00:09:13,200 was 16. but 299 00:09:16,470 --> 00:09:15,120 everything was great and i had a really 300 00:09:18,630 --> 00:09:16,480 good time and that was really my first 301 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:18,640 taste of doing science right doing field 302 00:09:21,590 --> 00:09:19,360 work 303 00:09:23,110 --> 00:09:21,600 right having a having a scientific goal 304 00:09:24,710 --> 00:09:23,120 and trying to find evidence to to 305 00:09:26,790 --> 00:09:24,720 support that hypothesis 306 00:09:28,710 --> 00:09:26,800 so it was really fun that's wonderful 307 00:09:29,910 --> 00:09:28,720 yeah i'm i'm super jealous i've been to 308 00:09:31,590 --> 00:09:29,920 the high arctic but 309 00:09:33,190 --> 00:09:31,600 never to greenland and so that's really 310 00:09:34,630 --> 00:09:33,200 cool uh and i think you know 311 00:09:36,710 --> 00:09:34,640 there's a lot more these days too for 312 00:09:38,550 --> 00:09:36,720 citizen signs and ways for 313 00:09:40,389 --> 00:09:38,560 people from all around to get involved 314 00:09:41,269 --> 00:09:40,399 in various scientific expeditions and 315 00:09:42,630 --> 00:09:41,279 endeavors 316 00:09:43,990 --> 00:09:42,640 um so for everyone watching if you're 317 00:09:45,030 --> 00:09:44,000 interested in doing something similar i 318 00:09:47,190 --> 00:09:45,040 highly recommend it 319 00:09:48,870 --> 00:09:47,200 be motivated get out there ask the 320 00:09:50,870 --> 00:09:48,880 questions save up your money 321 00:09:52,949 --> 00:09:50,880 and and go do these things because they 322 00:09:55,509 --> 00:09:52,959 might you know change your future 323 00:09:57,190 --> 00:09:55,519 um and that's really cool uh so dr 324 00:09:58,470 --> 00:09:57,200 phillips you did your undergraduate uh 325 00:10:01,030 --> 00:09:58,480 in physics and astronomy 326 00:10:03,030 --> 00:10:01,040 at harvard you then went on to uh your 327 00:10:05,030 --> 00:10:03,040 graduate studies in planetary science at 328 00:10:07,670 --> 00:10:05,040 university of arizona 329 00:10:08,069 --> 00:10:07,680 what things along the way really drove 330 00:10:10,710 --> 00:10:08,079 you 331 00:10:12,550 --> 00:10:10,720 to become an expert in understanding the 332 00:10:13,829 --> 00:10:12,560 icy worlds and the moons of our solar 333 00:10:15,190 --> 00:10:13,839 system 334 00:10:16,470 --> 00:10:15,200 is there any advice you would give for 335 00:10:17,590 --> 00:10:16,480 instance young undergraduates or 336 00:10:19,590 --> 00:10:17,600 graduate students who might want to 337 00:10:22,630 --> 00:10:19,600 pursue a similar career 338 00:10:23,910 --> 00:10:22,640 yeah so so a lot of a lot of my career 339 00:10:25,670 --> 00:10:23,920 has been 340 00:10:27,350 --> 00:10:25,680 strategic planning and a lot of it has 341 00:10:28,870 --> 00:10:27,360 been luck right so it's really a 342 00:10:30,870 --> 00:10:28,880 combination of the two 343 00:10:32,069 --> 00:10:30,880 um you know i went to college and i was 344 00:10:34,790 --> 00:10:32,079 like i'm going to be a physics major 345 00:10:36,389 --> 00:10:34,800 because you know i i had seen these move 346 00:10:37,750 --> 00:10:36,399 i'd seen these voyager images right i'd 347 00:10:40,310 --> 00:10:37,760 seen these moons of neptune 348 00:10:42,069 --> 00:10:40,320 but i had no idea how to get from where 349 00:10:43,430 --> 00:10:42,079 i was which was like a smart high school 350 00:10:45,829 --> 00:10:43,440 student who was good at physics 351 00:10:47,190 --> 00:10:45,839 to that jpl control room so that was 352 00:10:49,350 --> 00:10:47,200 always in the back of my mind 353 00:10:50,630 --> 00:10:49,360 but i had no idea how to get there right 354 00:10:51,910 --> 00:10:50,640 so i went to college i was like okay i'm 355 00:10:54,310 --> 00:10:51,920 gonna be a physics major 356 00:10:54,949 --> 00:10:54,320 so i go and i major in physics and man 357 00:10:57,190 --> 00:10:54,959 it was 358 00:10:58,949 --> 00:10:57,200 i i'd been like i've been great at 359 00:11:00,550 --> 00:10:58,959 physics i did physics really intuitively 360 00:11:01,750 --> 00:11:00,560 and i got to college and i hit quantum 361 00:11:04,150 --> 00:11:01,760 physics and suddenly 362 00:11:04,949 --> 00:11:04,160 my brain no longer worked right like i 363 00:11:07,269 --> 00:11:04,959 could not 364 00:11:08,230 --> 00:11:07,279 get an intuitive grip of of quantum 365 00:11:10,710 --> 00:11:08,240 physics 366 00:11:12,069 --> 00:11:10,720 and you know quantum mechanics and you 367 00:11:13,590 --> 00:11:12,079 know i didn't really know how 368 00:11:15,110 --> 00:11:13,600 because i'd always just kind of 369 00:11:16,150 --> 00:11:15,120 understood it i didn't really know how 370 00:11:18,150 --> 00:11:16,160 to teach myself 371 00:11:20,230 --> 00:11:18,160 how to do it right so i hit this brick 372 00:11:21,750 --> 00:11:20,240 wall and you know i was like one of the 373 00:11:23,190 --> 00:11:21,760 few women in the physics department and 374 00:11:24,470 --> 00:11:23,200 it was just it was not a very supportive 375 00:11:26,470 --> 00:11:24,480 department at the time 376 00:11:28,069 --> 00:11:26,480 and so i found the astronomy department 377 00:11:29,910 --> 00:11:28,079 and the astronomy department was 378 00:11:31,590 --> 00:11:29,920 like they were friendly and they were 379 00:11:33,350 --> 00:11:31,600 nice and they had telescopes i was like 380 00:11:34,550 --> 00:11:33,360 okay so i'll do a joint astronomy and 381 00:11:36,069 --> 00:11:34,560 physics major 382 00:11:38,150 --> 00:11:36,079 and then i'll be able to look at the 383 00:11:39,350 --> 00:11:38,160 solar system so you know i'm taking 384 00:11:41,430 --> 00:11:39,360 astronomy classes 385 00:11:43,030 --> 00:11:41,440 and i remember i'm like you know we're 386 00:11:44,630 --> 00:11:43,040 studying galaxies and debbie is like all 387 00:11:46,389 --> 00:11:44,640 of those like faint fuzzy 388 00:11:47,670 --> 00:11:46,399 disappointing looking things and i'm 389 00:11:48,470 --> 00:11:47,680 like okay when are we gonna get to the 390 00:11:50,710 --> 00:11:48,480 planets 391 00:11:51,750 --> 00:11:50,720 and so finally you know i asked i was 392 00:11:53,030 --> 00:11:51,760 like okay you know 393 00:11:54,389 --> 00:11:53,040 when when are we gonna study the planets 394 00:11:56,389 --> 00:11:54,399 and they're oh well that's planetary 395 00:11:58,629 --> 00:11:56,399 science that's not astronomy right 396 00:12:00,310 --> 00:11:58,639 so it was this whole like other thing 397 00:12:01,910 --> 00:12:00,320 right and so planetary science like the 398 00:12:04,150 --> 00:12:01,920 study of the solar system 399 00:12:06,470 --> 00:12:04,160 it's a pretty young field because we've 400 00:12:07,030 --> 00:12:06,480 really only in the last like 50 years or 401 00:12:09,030 --> 00:12:07,040 so 402 00:12:10,790 --> 00:12:09,040 we've had spacecraft that have been able 403 00:12:13,190 --> 00:12:10,800 to go out and take pictures of these of 404 00:12:16,389 --> 00:12:13,200 these other worlds in our solar system 405 00:12:18,150 --> 00:12:16,399 and so at least at the time um you know 406 00:12:19,670 --> 00:12:18,160 so planetary science sometimes it's part 407 00:12:21,509 --> 00:12:19,680 of like the earth and planetary science 408 00:12:23,110 --> 00:12:21,519 like a geology department sometimes it's 409 00:12:26,150 --> 00:12:23,120 part of the astronomy department 410 00:12:27,990 --> 00:12:26,160 sometimes it's its own department um 411 00:12:29,190 --> 00:12:28,000 so it was really just kind of confusing 412 00:12:31,269 --> 00:12:29,200 trying to figure out okay 413 00:12:33,110 --> 00:12:31,279 what should i be studying and who do i 414 00:12:36,150 --> 00:12:33,120 work with and who do i do research with 415 00:12:38,150 --> 00:12:36,160 if i want to be a planetary scientist 416 00:12:40,069 --> 00:12:38,160 and so i started you know i found like 417 00:12:41,590 --> 00:12:40,079 the one planetary science person 418 00:12:42,790 --> 00:12:41,600 who was there who was in the astronomy 419 00:12:44,470 --> 00:12:42,800 department and you know i worked with 420 00:12:44,949 --> 00:12:44,480 him looking at pictures of venus that 421 00:12:46,629 --> 00:12:44,959 had been 422 00:12:48,310 --> 00:12:46,639 taken by the magellan spacecraft because 423 00:12:51,030 --> 00:12:48,320 that was that's what was going on 424 00:12:52,069 --> 00:12:51,040 when i was in college and i started 425 00:12:53,430 --> 00:12:52,079 thinking about okay 426 00:12:55,030 --> 00:12:53,440 you know i'm remembering back to my 427 00:12:55,910 --> 00:12:55,040 dream and i'm like okay what mission is 428 00:12:57,910 --> 00:12:55,920 coming up next 429 00:12:59,829 --> 00:12:57,920 it's going to have new pictures and so 430 00:13:00,710 --> 00:12:59,839 the galileo mission was about to reach 431 00:13:02,870 --> 00:13:00,720 jupiter 432 00:13:04,150 --> 00:13:02,880 and so i you know found a journal 433 00:13:04,949 --> 00:13:04,160 article again there's like i couldn't 434 00:13:07,430 --> 00:13:04,959 just google 435 00:13:09,030 --> 00:13:07,440 galileo science team right so i found a 436 00:13:10,550 --> 00:13:09,040 journal article that had a list of all 437 00:13:11,269 --> 00:13:10,560 of the members of the galileo science 438 00:13:13,110 --> 00:13:11,279 team 439 00:13:14,629 --> 00:13:13,120 and i figured out what universities 440 00:13:16,790 --> 00:13:14,639 they're at and then i went to 441 00:13:17,430 --> 00:13:16,800 conferences as an undergrad and i talked 442 00:13:19,030 --> 00:13:17,440 to 443 00:13:20,710 --> 00:13:19,040 every grad student i could find i had 444 00:13:22,069 --> 00:13:20,720 this little notebook i kept in my pocket 445 00:13:23,110 --> 00:13:22,079 of like all the planetary science 446 00:13:24,949 --> 00:13:23,120 departments 447 00:13:26,790 --> 00:13:24,959 and i talked to them and i talked to 448 00:13:28,389 --> 00:13:26,800 them about you know the members of the 449 00:13:30,150 --> 00:13:28,399 galileo imaging team 450 00:13:31,670 --> 00:13:30,160 and so basically those were the 451 00:13:32,949 --> 00:13:31,680 departments i applied to like i figured 452 00:13:34,470 --> 00:13:32,959 out what schools they were in i figured 453 00:13:36,069 --> 00:13:34,480 out what departments they're in 454 00:13:37,590 --> 00:13:36,079 that's where i applied because i knew 455 00:13:38,310 --> 00:13:37,600 that i wanted to work with one of those 456 00:13:40,069 --> 00:13:38,320 people 457 00:13:41,269 --> 00:13:40,079 and so i was lucky enough to you know 458 00:13:42,710 --> 00:13:41,279 get accepted at the university of 459 00:13:44,710 --> 00:13:42,720 arizona and i worked with someone who 460 00:13:46,949 --> 00:13:44,720 was on the galileo imaging team 461 00:13:47,990 --> 00:13:46,959 and i got to be there i got to be the 462 00:13:49,670 --> 00:13:48,000 one you know 463 00:13:51,590 --> 00:13:49,680 i was like this lowly you know first 464 00:13:53,430 --> 00:13:51,600 year grad student when galileo 465 00:13:55,030 --> 00:13:53,440 reached the jupiter system right so 466 00:13:56,389 --> 00:13:55,040 that's the luck right that's the timing 467 00:13:57,670 --> 00:13:56,399 i was just i was in the right place at 468 00:14:00,230 --> 00:13:57,680 the right time 469 00:14:01,910 --> 00:14:00,240 um and so since i was like the youngest 470 00:14:03,269 --> 00:14:01,920 one the youngest grad student and i was 471 00:14:05,110 --> 00:14:03,279 good with computers 472 00:14:06,710 --> 00:14:05,120 i got to be the one who could you know 473 00:14:08,150 --> 00:14:06,720 the images were released and there was 474 00:14:10,389 --> 00:14:08,160 the internet by then right and so 475 00:14:12,150 --> 00:14:10,399 we didn't actually get to physically go 476 00:14:13,829 --> 00:14:12,160 to the jpl control room and look at the 477 00:14:15,990 --> 00:14:13,839 pictures on the big screens 478 00:14:17,590 --> 00:14:16,000 they were put on an ftp site but i was 479 00:14:19,430 --> 00:14:17,600 the one who was very good at you know i 480 00:14:20,949 --> 00:14:19,440 could ftp the images over really quickly 481 00:14:22,949 --> 00:14:20,959 and get them up and stretch them and get 482 00:14:24,870 --> 00:14:22,959 them on my big monitor on my computer 483 00:14:26,230 --> 00:14:24,880 and all of the you know the scientists 484 00:14:27,910 --> 00:14:26,240 in the department the professors would 485 00:14:28,710 --> 00:14:27,920 gather around behind me and we'd look at 486 00:14:31,750 --> 00:14:28,720 those pictures 487 00:14:33,590 --> 00:14:31,760 and say wow i have no idea what that is 488 00:14:34,790 --> 00:14:33,600 right i got to do it and it was just 489 00:14:36,310 --> 00:14:34,800 amazing 490 00:14:38,069 --> 00:14:36,320 and that's when i fell in love with the 491 00:14:39,430 --> 00:14:38,079 with the satellites of jupiter with with 492 00:14:42,069 --> 00:14:39,440 i worked on io 493 00:14:42,710 --> 00:14:42,079 you know ganymede callisto but really 494 00:14:46,389 --> 00:14:42,720 europa 495 00:14:48,790 --> 00:14:46,399 became obsessed with it 496 00:14:49,590 --> 00:14:48,800 so i've worked on europa ever since oh 497 00:14:51,269 --> 00:14:49,600 that's wonderful 498 00:14:52,949 --> 00:14:51,279 i love your connection there of you know 499 00:14:53,590 --> 00:14:52,959 as a young person seeing carl sagan 500 00:14:55,590 --> 00:14:53,600 looking at 501 00:14:56,790 --> 00:14:55,600 the moons of neptune and being like i 502 00:14:58,310 --> 00:14:56,800 don't know what that is and then as a 503 00:14:59,670 --> 00:14:58,320 graduate student you're involved in 504 00:15:01,110 --> 00:14:59,680 downloading these images and 505 00:15:03,829 --> 00:15:01,120 and scientists are like i don't know 506 00:15:06,389 --> 00:15:03,839 what that is and i was i was so lucky 507 00:15:07,509 --> 00:15:06,399 right it was amazing yeah and i love you 508 00:15:09,350 --> 00:15:07,519 know the mixture of you know your 509 00:15:10,069 --> 00:15:09,360 motivation hard work and a bit of luck 510 00:15:12,150 --> 00:15:10,079 too i mean 511 00:15:13,670 --> 00:15:12,160 that does happen along the way and it is 512 00:15:15,269 --> 00:15:13,680 interesting there always are you know 513 00:15:17,030 --> 00:15:15,279 upcoming missions that young people can 514 00:15:19,110 --> 00:15:17,040 get involved in right now 515 00:15:20,629 --> 00:15:19,120 uh the dragonfly mission to titan won't 516 00:15:22,069 --> 00:15:20,639 launch for quite some time but 517 00:15:24,069 --> 00:15:22,079 you can get involved now as a young 518 00:15:26,550 --> 00:15:24,079 student uh there are ways to be involved 519 00:15:28,150 --> 00:15:26,560 with upcoming europa missions 520 00:15:30,069 --> 00:15:28,160 and a lot of people are very interested 521 00:15:32,310 --> 00:15:30,079 in icy worlds in our solar system we 522 00:15:33,430 --> 00:15:32,320 actually asked on the nasa astrobiology 523 00:15:35,670 --> 00:15:33,440 twitter account 524 00:15:38,230 --> 00:15:35,680 uh what people's favorite icy worlds 525 00:15:40,710 --> 00:15:38,240 were we gave them the options of europa 526 00:15:42,150 --> 00:15:40,720 enceladus titan or other now i 527 00:15:43,990 --> 00:15:42,160 personally also recommended triton 528 00:15:47,110 --> 00:15:44,000 because that's one of my favorites 529 00:15:49,269 --> 00:15:47,120 uh but the polling showed us that 41 530 00:15:50,550 --> 00:15:49,279 of the audience who responded chose 531 00:15:54,230 --> 00:15:50,560 europa 532 00:15:55,749 --> 00:15:54,240 excellent good choice everyone and so 533 00:15:58,069 --> 00:15:55,759 you know let's talk a bit about 534 00:15:59,749 --> 00:15:58,079 europa uh and maybe specifically 535 00:16:02,069 --> 00:15:59,759 focusing on the upcoming mission 536 00:16:03,269 --> 00:16:02,079 europa clipper and europa lander um i 537 00:16:04,310 --> 00:16:03,279 wonder if you can give us you know kind 538 00:16:05,829 --> 00:16:04,320 of a 539 00:16:06,949 --> 00:16:05,839 really quick synopsis of what we're 540 00:16:08,069 --> 00:16:06,959 going to be doing with the clipper 541 00:16:10,710 --> 00:16:08,079 mission 542 00:16:11,189 --> 00:16:10,720 sure yeah so so after the galileo 543 00:16:13,110 --> 00:16:11,199 mission 544 00:16:14,949 --> 00:16:13,120 studied jupiter and satellites you know 545 00:16:15,829 --> 00:16:14,959 we discovered that europa was really 546 00:16:17,590 --> 00:16:15,839 fascinating 547 00:16:19,509 --> 00:16:17,600 right so it's it the surface is covered 548 00:16:21,749 --> 00:16:19,519 with ice it's really bright 549 00:16:23,189 --> 00:16:21,759 it has all these cracks and ridges and 550 00:16:24,629 --> 00:16:23,199 places on the surface where 551 00:16:26,870 --> 00:16:24,639 it almost looks like icebergs like 552 00:16:28,710 --> 00:16:26,880 something's like rotated and translated 553 00:16:29,749 --> 00:16:28,720 and broken up and then frozen into a new 554 00:16:32,629 --> 00:16:29,759 position 555 00:16:33,350 --> 00:16:32,639 it's just this crazy looking world and 556 00:16:35,430 --> 00:16:33,360 we're 557 00:16:36,710 --> 00:16:35,440 pretty sure with evidence from all the 558 00:16:37,829 --> 00:16:36,720 different instruments on the galileo 559 00:16:39,749 --> 00:16:37,839 spacecraft that 560 00:16:40,949 --> 00:16:39,759 there's this layer of ice at the surface 561 00:16:43,350 --> 00:16:40,959 but under that ice 562 00:16:45,590 --> 00:16:43,360 is an ocean of liquid water and there's 563 00:16:47,829 --> 00:16:45,600 actually more water on europa 564 00:16:50,150 --> 00:16:47,839 than all of earth's oceans combined 565 00:16:53,269 --> 00:16:50,160 right so it's a lot of water it's this 566 00:16:54,790 --> 00:16:53,279 global subsurface ocean and so 567 00:16:56,710 --> 00:16:54,800 when we start thinking about that we 568 00:16:58,389 --> 00:16:56,720 start thinking about how wow 569 00:17:00,470 --> 00:16:58,399 that could be one of the best places to 570 00:17:01,590 --> 00:17:00,480 look for life in the solar system life 571 00:17:03,350 --> 00:17:01,600 beyond the earth 572 00:17:05,189 --> 00:17:03,360 um you know forget mars right nothing 573 00:17:06,710 --> 00:17:05,199 against mars mars is nice it's pretty in 574 00:17:09,750 --> 00:17:06,720 red it matches my shirt but 575 00:17:12,069 --> 00:17:09,760 you know there's no oceans on mars today 576 00:17:14,549 --> 00:17:12,079 right if we find life on mars it's going 577 00:17:15,990 --> 00:17:14,559 to be kind of old fossilized microbes or 578 00:17:18,069 --> 00:17:16,000 you know maybe something hiding in a 579 00:17:20,549 --> 00:17:18,079 little ice pocket under the surface but 580 00:17:21,350 --> 00:17:20,559 on europa we have this ocean there could 581 00:17:24,390 --> 00:17:21,360 be life 582 00:17:26,309 --> 00:17:24,400 in that ocean and so we started working 583 00:17:28,069 --> 00:17:26,319 on a new mission called europa clipper 584 00:17:29,350 --> 00:17:28,079 and you know after galileo we thought 585 00:17:31,190 --> 00:17:29,360 okay this will be the next mission 586 00:17:33,190 --> 00:17:31,200 it's going to get going and it took a 587 00:17:35,669 --> 00:17:33,200 long time to get this mission 588 00:17:36,390 --> 00:17:35,679 you know really approved and so now 589 00:17:37,590 --> 00:17:36,400 finally 590 00:17:40,230 --> 00:17:37,600 we have this mission it's going to 591 00:17:42,630 --> 00:17:40,240 launch in a couple years um 592 00:17:44,230 --> 00:17:42,640 and it's going to study europa it's 593 00:17:45,029 --> 00:17:44,240 going to have that detailed close-up 594 00:17:47,510 --> 00:17:45,039 lurk with 595 00:17:48,230 --> 00:17:47,520 resolution images with a radar 596 00:17:49,510 --> 00:17:48,240 instrument with 597 00:17:51,430 --> 00:17:49,520 all sorts of instruments that will 598 00:17:54,549 --> 00:17:51,440 really be able to study europa 599 00:17:56,950 --> 00:17:54,559 um and its ocean um and so the top level 600 00:17:59,270 --> 00:17:56,960 science goal of europa clipper is to 601 00:18:00,470 --> 00:17:59,280 explore europa to investigate its 602 00:18:02,470 --> 00:18:00,480 habitability 603 00:18:04,150 --> 00:18:02,480 so europa clipper is not a life 604 00:18:06,230 --> 00:18:04,160 detection mission per se 605 00:18:07,350 --> 00:18:06,240 it's a habitability mission it's kind of 606 00:18:10,310 --> 00:18:07,360 the next step 607 00:18:12,230 --> 00:18:10,320 in understanding europa and so what it's 608 00:18:14,390 --> 00:18:12,240 going to do is look for 609 00:18:15,270 --> 00:18:14,400 are there places on europa that are 610 00:18:17,590 --> 00:18:15,280 habitable 611 00:18:19,270 --> 00:18:17,600 that we think that life and again this 612 00:18:20,549 --> 00:18:19,280 is life as we know it right 613 00:18:22,070 --> 00:18:20,559 you know there's all sorts of crazy 614 00:18:23,029 --> 00:18:22,080 ideas of what kinds of crazy life there 615 00:18:24,710 --> 00:18:23,039 could be but 616 00:18:26,549 --> 00:18:24,720 you know you can't really base a mission 617 00:18:29,029 --> 00:18:26,559 on that you have to base a mission on 618 00:18:30,390 --> 00:18:29,039 you know our best knowledge of what life 619 00:18:33,190 --> 00:18:30,400 on earth looks like 620 00:18:34,950 --> 00:18:33,200 and how we think that life could survive 621 00:18:36,390 --> 00:18:34,960 in an environment like europa 622 00:18:37,990 --> 00:18:36,400 and so that's what europa clipper will 623 00:18:39,029 --> 00:18:38,000 do is it's going to study the surface 624 00:18:40,870 --> 00:18:39,039 composition 625 00:18:42,150 --> 00:18:40,880 it's going to try to probe the 626 00:18:44,150 --> 00:18:42,160 subsurface structure 627 00:18:45,510 --> 00:18:44,160 maybe even get down to tell us like how 628 00:18:47,430 --> 00:18:45,520 deep that ocean is 629 00:18:48,630 --> 00:18:47,440 whether there's ice pockets maybe in the 630 00:18:50,230 --> 00:18:48,640 ice crest 631 00:18:52,070 --> 00:18:50,240 um and it'll also look for the 632 00:18:54,630 --> 00:18:52,080 composition of material that's that's 633 00:18:56,470 --> 00:18:54,640 ejected from europa's surface into space 634 00:18:58,310 --> 00:18:56,480 the off and kind of stick out its tongue 635 00:19:01,350 --> 00:18:58,320 and you know taste that material and 636 00:19:03,669 --> 00:19:01,360 figure out what it's made of and so all 637 00:19:05,909 --> 00:19:03,679 of these instruments working together 638 00:19:07,029 --> 00:19:05,919 will be able to give us an amazing idea 639 00:19:09,029 --> 00:19:07,039 of 640 00:19:11,190 --> 00:19:09,039 whether there are places on europa that 641 00:19:12,950 --> 00:19:11,200 we think life could live 642 00:19:14,310 --> 00:19:12,960 yeah that's a good point too and also 643 00:19:15,750 --> 00:19:14,320 like picking out things that could be 644 00:19:17,909 --> 00:19:15,760 orbiting around europa as it's flying 645 00:19:19,350 --> 00:19:17,919 through we got very lucky with cassini 646 00:19:21,110 --> 00:19:19,360 that you know we could fly through the 647 00:19:22,710 --> 00:19:21,120 plumes of enceladus 648 00:19:24,230 --> 00:19:22,720 i remember there was a workshop at nasa 649 00:19:26,070 --> 00:19:24,240 ames some years ago 650 00:19:27,669 --> 00:19:26,080 uh proposing how would we actually look 651 00:19:30,070 --> 00:19:27,679 at the chemistry of material if there 652 00:19:31,909 --> 00:19:30,080 are plumes coming out of europa as well 653 00:19:33,430 --> 00:19:31,919 uh there are there are some data to 654 00:19:35,830 --> 00:19:33,440 suggest there could be plumes 655 00:19:36,870 --> 00:19:35,840 that intermittently come out of europa 656 00:19:38,390 --> 00:19:36,880 but i think it's good for people to 657 00:19:39,669 --> 00:19:38,400 remember that that clipper is going to 658 00:19:41,110 --> 00:19:39,679 be an orbiting mission 659 00:19:43,830 --> 00:19:41,120 that will orbit around jupiter and 660 00:19:45,590 --> 00:19:43,840 europa together and study the surface 661 00:19:47,669 --> 00:19:45,600 um and so we also have the concept 662 00:19:48,950 --> 00:19:47,679 design of the europa lander 663 00:19:51,350 --> 00:19:48,960 um and so would you mind just telling 664 00:19:51,990 --> 00:19:51,360 our audience about this idea of landing 665 00:19:53,750 --> 00:19:52,000 a spacecraft 666 00:19:55,750 --> 00:19:53,760 on europa as well and what we might do 667 00:19:58,310 --> 00:19:55,760 if we actually send that there 668 00:19:59,909 --> 00:19:58,320 yeah so once we've studied europa from 669 00:20:01,510 --> 00:19:59,919 orbit and so europa clipper it's going 670 00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:01,520 to be in orbit around jupiter 671 00:20:06,310 --> 00:20:04,080 with multiple close flybys like 40 or 50 672 00:20:08,549 --> 00:20:06,320 close flybys of europa 673 00:20:10,149 --> 00:20:08,559 but if you really want to study the 674 00:20:10,870 --> 00:20:10,159 composition of europe and if you really 675 00:20:13,909 --> 00:20:10,880 want to do an 676 00:20:15,990 --> 00:20:13,919 actual search for biosignatures so bio 677 00:20:19,430 --> 00:20:16,000 signatures are basically signs of life 678 00:20:21,590 --> 00:20:19,440 so materials that were 679 00:20:23,750 --> 00:20:21,600 that that must have been made in the 680 00:20:25,510 --> 00:20:23,760 presence of life or made by life 681 00:20:27,510 --> 00:20:25,520 right so if you really want to look for 682 00:20:29,350 --> 00:20:27,520 bio signatures you've got to land 683 00:20:30,870 --> 00:20:29,360 you've got to touch the surface and so 684 00:20:31,750 --> 00:20:30,880 the the picture in back of me so this is 685 00:20:32,950 --> 00:20:31,760 the europa lander 686 00:20:34,870 --> 00:20:32,960 i'm moving because i'm blocking the 687 00:20:37,750 --> 00:20:34,880 lander but so the idea is that 688 00:20:39,190 --> 00:20:37,760 you land on the surface of europa and so 689 00:20:40,950 --> 00:20:39,200 i've been working with this europa 690 00:20:42,950 --> 00:20:40,960 lander mission concept so 691 00:20:45,110 --> 00:20:42,960 this is not an approved nasa mission yet 692 00:20:47,110 --> 00:20:45,120 right it's a concept it's a study 693 00:20:48,470 --> 00:20:47,120 but it's a very high fidelity you know 694 00:20:50,470 --> 00:20:48,480 mature concept 695 00:20:52,390 --> 00:20:50,480 so if you know somebody arrived with a 696 00:20:54,070 --> 00:20:52,400 big bucket of dollars and said hey build 697 00:20:54,950 --> 00:20:54,080 me a mission to europa i'd say okay and 698 00:20:56,390 --> 00:20:54,960 i'd push the button 699 00:20:58,630 --> 00:20:56,400 and we'd start building this thing that 700 00:20:59,510 --> 00:20:58,640 would land on the surface um and so the 701 00:21:02,070 --> 00:20:59,520 idea is that 702 00:21:04,230 --> 00:21:02,080 you land and then you have like a like a 703 00:21:06,070 --> 00:21:04,240 saw or some other kind of sampling 704 00:21:08,549 --> 00:21:06,080 or you know instrument on the end of an 705 00:21:09,669 --> 00:21:08,559 arm you dig below the surface so you 706 00:21:10,950 --> 00:21:09,679 you don't want to sample the stuff 707 00:21:13,190 --> 00:21:10,960 that's right at the surface because 708 00:21:14,630 --> 00:21:13,200 that's just been fried by radiation 709 00:21:16,710 --> 00:21:14,640 so you want to go down a little bit 710 00:21:18,070 --> 00:21:16,720 deeper so where the ice can protect 711 00:21:19,909 --> 00:21:18,080 any of these materials from that 712 00:21:20,950 --> 00:21:19,919 radiation you want to scoop up some of 713 00:21:22,630 --> 00:21:20,960 that material 714 00:21:24,310 --> 00:21:22,640 you want to get it into your spacecraft 715 00:21:25,750 --> 00:21:24,320 and then you have these onboard chemical 716 00:21:28,149 --> 00:21:25,760 analysis instruments 717 00:21:29,669 --> 00:21:28,159 that will be able to tell you what's in 718 00:21:30,070 --> 00:21:29,679 that material and that will be able to 719 00:21:32,230 --> 00:21:30,080 look 720 00:21:33,190 --> 00:21:32,240 for these bio signatures these signs of 721 00:21:35,909 --> 00:21:33,200 life 722 00:21:37,350 --> 00:21:35,919 and so this would just be an amazing 723 00:21:38,470 --> 00:21:37,360 mission because it would really be one 724 00:21:40,470 --> 00:21:38,480 of our first 725 00:21:42,230 --> 00:21:40,480 you know since the viking missions the 726 00:21:43,590 --> 00:21:42,240 viking landers that went to mars back in 727 00:21:45,430 --> 00:21:43,600 the 1970s 728 00:21:47,110 --> 00:21:45,440 those were explicit you know 729 00:21:49,110 --> 00:21:47,120 astrobiology we didn't even have the 730 00:21:51,669 --> 00:21:49,120 word astrobiology back then but 731 00:21:52,789 --> 00:21:51,679 those were life detection missions and 732 00:21:54,630 --> 00:21:52,799 what we could do 733 00:21:56,310 --> 00:21:54,640 on europa with this europa lander 734 00:21:58,390 --> 00:21:56,320 mission concept is 735 00:22:01,590 --> 00:21:58,400 look for bio signatures look for signs 736 00:22:03,590 --> 00:22:01,600 of life and it would just be amazing 737 00:22:05,029 --> 00:22:03,600 awesome yeah i was super fortunate in 738 00:22:05,750 --> 00:22:05,039 graduate school to do research at a 739 00:22:07,830 --> 00:22:05,760 place called 740 00:22:09,750 --> 00:22:07,840 fjord pass up in the canadian high 741 00:22:10,470 --> 00:22:09,760 arctic which is one of our analogs on 742 00:22:12,310 --> 00:22:10,480 earth 743 00:22:13,669 --> 00:22:12,320 for europa and specifically for the 744 00:22:14,549 --> 00:22:13,679 kinds of instruments that we might 745 00:22:17,029 --> 00:22:14,559 employ 746 00:22:18,470 --> 00:22:17,039 on a lander mission and so i'm super 747 00:22:20,149 --> 00:22:18,480 hopeful that the lander will eventually 748 00:22:23,270 --> 00:22:20,159 be funded and that we'll see 749 00:22:24,710 --> 00:22:23,280 a lander going to europa as well i do 750 00:22:26,630 --> 00:22:24,720 want to mine the audience watching 751 00:22:28,710 --> 00:22:26,640 on segonnet on the nasa astrobiology 752 00:22:29,909 --> 00:22:28,720 facebook page if you have questions for 753 00:22:32,789 --> 00:22:29,919 dr phillips about 754 00:22:34,470 --> 00:22:32,799 europa or other icy worlds about her 755 00:22:36,230 --> 00:22:34,480 research and studying the geology of 756 00:22:37,669 --> 00:22:36,240 these moons of our solar system 757 00:22:38,950 --> 00:22:37,679 feel free to drop those in the chat and 758 00:22:40,630 --> 00:22:38,960 we'll start adding those to our 759 00:22:43,190 --> 00:22:40,640 teleprompter for me then 760 00:22:44,789 --> 00:22:43,200 to ask dr phillips here shortly i do 761 00:22:47,029 --> 00:22:44,799 want to chat just for a moment 762 00:22:48,789 --> 00:22:47,039 i know you've done a lot of public 763 00:22:50,470 --> 00:22:48,799 engagement community engagement in the 764 00:22:51,590 --> 00:22:50,480 sciences as well 765 00:22:54,070 --> 00:22:51,600 you've done things like going to 766 00:22:55,590 --> 00:22:54,080 comic-con and south by southwest and and 767 00:22:57,190 --> 00:22:55,600 shared science i wonder if you could 768 00:22:59,350 --> 00:22:57,200 speak to our audience 769 00:23:00,310 --> 00:22:59,360 about your vision of the importance of 770 00:23:01,990 --> 00:23:00,320 sharing science 771 00:23:03,430 --> 00:23:02,000 and and maybe what that has meant for 772 00:23:05,830 --> 00:23:03,440 you in your own career to have a chance 773 00:23:08,630 --> 00:23:05,840 to speak to others about your work 774 00:23:10,470 --> 00:23:08,640 yeah absolutely um one of the one of the 775 00:23:11,990 --> 00:23:10,480 most amazing things about my job is that 776 00:23:14,630 --> 00:23:12,000 you know it's just that i get to do it 777 00:23:17,590 --> 00:23:14,640 right and i love sharing that excitement 778 00:23:19,669 --> 00:23:17,600 about about europa about what i do about 779 00:23:21,350 --> 00:23:19,679 you know this little ice covered world 780 00:23:21,990 --> 00:23:21,360 that's like the size of our moon but it 781 00:23:24,390 --> 00:23:22,000 looks so 782 00:23:26,470 --> 00:23:24,400 totally different like i love talking to 783 00:23:27,430 --> 00:23:26,480 students to classes to the general 784 00:23:29,430 --> 00:23:27,440 public 785 00:23:30,630 --> 00:23:29,440 um and so so yeah when i get the 786 00:23:32,230 --> 00:23:30,640 opportunity to do these 787 00:23:34,230 --> 00:23:32,240 bigger like higher profile kind of 788 00:23:35,990 --> 00:23:34,240 science communications events 789 00:23:37,750 --> 00:23:36,000 it's just fabulous it's fabulous to go 790 00:23:39,750 --> 00:23:37,760 to somewhere like you know san diego 791 00:23:41,350 --> 00:23:39,760 comic-con or south by southwest 792 00:23:43,669 --> 00:23:41,360 where you know you'll have panels with 793 00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:43,679 like actors from these amazing tv shows 794 00:23:47,350 --> 00:23:45,600 and you know comic book artists and 795 00:23:48,950 --> 00:23:47,360 you know all of the all of the you know 796 00:23:50,630 --> 00:23:48,960 the cosplay and the amazing 797 00:23:53,110 --> 00:23:50,640 people that are there and then you have 798 00:23:55,269 --> 00:23:53,120 like a nasa track or a science track 799 00:23:57,269 --> 00:23:55,279 and you have a couple of nasa panels and 800 00:23:58,710 --> 00:23:57,279 you know they're hugely popular like we 801 00:24:00,710 --> 00:23:58,720 get huge audiences okay 802 00:24:02,149 --> 00:24:00,720 maybe not as much as the cast of the 803 00:24:03,830 --> 00:24:02,159 latest avengers movie but 804 00:24:05,909 --> 00:24:03,840 you know still like there's a lot of 805 00:24:06,549 --> 00:24:05,919 interest and i think what that shows is 806 00:24:15,029 --> 00:24:06,559 that 807 00:24:16,470 --> 00:24:15,039 it's about you know what can you dream 808 00:24:18,230 --> 00:24:16,480 and how can you make those dreams 809 00:24:19,350 --> 00:24:18,240 reality and whether you're making them 810 00:24:21,830 --> 00:24:19,360 reality through 811 00:24:22,870 --> 00:24:21,840 a movie or through a comic book or you 812 00:24:24,870 --> 00:24:22,880 know through actually building a 813 00:24:26,710 --> 00:24:24,880 spacecraft and going there and seeing 814 00:24:28,870 --> 00:24:26,720 what would it look like on europa right 815 00:24:29,669 --> 00:24:28,880 the ties between science and science 816 00:24:31,990 --> 00:24:29,679 fiction 817 00:24:33,510 --> 00:24:32,000 um they're so close right so many of us 818 00:24:35,029 --> 00:24:33,520 who went into science i mean i watched 819 00:24:36,630 --> 00:24:35,039 star trek as a kid right i mean 820 00:24:38,230 --> 00:24:36,640 you know we're we're obsessed with 821 00:24:40,950 --> 00:24:38,240 science fiction because 822 00:24:42,710 --> 00:24:40,960 that's sort of a view of the future and 823 00:24:44,950 --> 00:24:42,720 we get the privilege of trying to figure 824 00:24:47,669 --> 00:24:44,960 out how to make that view reality 825 00:24:48,549 --> 00:24:47,679 awesome uh before we move on and in our 826 00:24:50,950 --> 00:24:48,559 discussion here 827 00:24:52,870 --> 00:24:50,960 dr phillips we asked another question 828 00:24:54,149 --> 00:24:52,880 through the nasa astrobiology twitter 829 00:24:56,390 --> 00:24:54,159 profile 830 00:24:58,310 --> 00:24:56,400 we shared one of your favorite pictures 831 00:25:00,310 --> 00:24:58,320 from the solar system 832 00:25:02,950 --> 00:25:00,320 and we asked folks online if they could 833 00:25:04,630 --> 00:25:02,960 actually tell us where that location was 834 00:25:07,029 --> 00:25:04,640 uh and so that image is popping up right 835 00:25:07,909 --> 00:25:07,039 now on our screens for everyone at home 836 00:25:10,630 --> 00:25:07,919 to see 837 00:25:11,269 --> 00:25:10,640 uh it's a beautiful colored image from 838 00:25:14,870 --> 00:25:11,279 the moon 839 00:25:17,590 --> 00:25:14,880 io or eo depending on your pronunciation 840 00:25:19,110 --> 00:25:17,600 it's a region called coulomb patera on 841 00:25:21,430 --> 00:25:19,120 io and io is 842 00:25:23,350 --> 00:25:21,440 a very volcanically active world it's 843 00:25:26,390 --> 00:25:23,360 spewing volcanic material including 844 00:25:27,190 --> 00:25:26,400 lots of sulfur out into orbit around 845 00:25:29,350 --> 00:25:27,200 jupiter 846 00:25:30,230 --> 00:25:29,360 uh and so we want to mention uh marianne 847 00:25:33,029 --> 00:25:30,240 denton at 848 00:25:33,390 --> 00:25:33,039 astro underscore limno and matt thompson 849 00:25:36,390 --> 00:25:33,400 at 850 00:25:38,630 --> 00:25:36,400 mftomster on twitter for 851 00:25:39,510 --> 00:25:38,640 getting it right that it was on io and 852 00:25:41,110 --> 00:25:39,520 then the winner 853 00:25:42,789 --> 00:25:41,120 who actually got the right location of 854 00:25:45,909 --> 00:25:42,799 coulomb patera as well 855 00:25:47,510 --> 00:25:45,919 is ana route mohanty at strayologist 856 00:25:49,510 --> 00:25:47,520 so thanks everyone for all of your 857 00:25:51,350 --> 00:25:49,520 wonderful answers for getting involved 858 00:25:52,710 --> 00:25:51,360 um with us there and a reminder for the 859 00:25:54,789 --> 00:25:52,720 audience i am going to jump over to our 860 00:25:55,669 --> 00:25:54,799 q a and start asking your questions very 861 00:25:57,269 --> 00:25:55,679 soon so 862 00:25:59,110 --> 00:25:57,279 feel free to drop any questions you have 863 00:25:59,430 --> 00:25:59,120 for dr phillips in the chats right now 864 00:26:00,870 --> 00:25:59,440 and 865 00:26:02,630 --> 00:26:00,880 we'll do our best to get to as many of 866 00:26:04,789 --> 00:26:02,640 those as we possibly can 867 00:26:07,430 --> 00:26:04,799 um just before we move on i do want to 868 00:26:09,430 --> 00:26:07,440 know uh for all of us in the sciences we 869 00:26:11,350 --> 00:26:09,440 also have many other things that are 870 00:26:12,549 --> 00:26:11,360 are driving us you know our hobbies and 871 00:26:14,710 --> 00:26:12,559 other activities 872 00:26:15,990 --> 00:26:14,720 things that kind of keep us going i 873 00:26:17,669 --> 00:26:16,000 understand that you're a big fan of 874 00:26:19,190 --> 00:26:17,679 science fiction for instance 875 00:26:21,029 --> 00:26:19,200 um i wonder if you could talk to us 876 00:26:22,310 --> 00:26:21,039 about the things that that can inspire 877 00:26:25,269 --> 00:26:22,320 you and keep you going 878 00:26:26,070 --> 00:26:25,279 outside of the science that you do yeah 879 00:26:28,230 --> 00:26:26,080 sure i mean 880 00:26:29,909 --> 00:26:28,240 i have five kids and so honestly you 881 00:26:31,110 --> 00:26:29,919 know i don't have time between work and 882 00:26:32,149 --> 00:26:31,120 kids i don't have that much time for 883 00:26:33,909 --> 00:26:32,159 hobbies but 884 00:26:36,149 --> 00:26:33,919 i'm a huge science fiction fan and so 885 00:26:37,750 --> 00:26:36,159 i've been really you know i grew up on 886 00:26:39,110 --> 00:26:37,760 star trek on star trek the next 887 00:26:40,630 --> 00:26:39,120 generation and then i went back and 888 00:26:41,990 --> 00:26:40,640 watched the original series which was 889 00:26:43,669 --> 00:26:42,000 you know before my time but of course 890 00:26:45,990 --> 00:26:43,679 within reruns so 891 00:26:48,230 --> 00:26:46,000 yeah i'm a big fan of sort of like that 892 00:26:50,070 --> 00:26:48,240 the the positive but the sort of 893 00:26:51,350 --> 00:26:50,080 realistic views of what a future might 894 00:26:53,750 --> 00:26:51,360 be like and so 895 00:26:55,430 --> 00:26:53,760 recently i've been enjoying um shows 896 00:26:56,710 --> 00:26:55,440 like the expanse you know the books but 897 00:26:58,549 --> 00:26:56,720 also the show is just they're they're 898 00:27:01,830 --> 00:26:58,559 amazing they're probably the most like 899 00:27:03,590 --> 00:27:01,840 scientifically accurate um depictions of 900 00:27:05,590 --> 00:27:03,600 you know a near future where we've 901 00:27:07,590 --> 00:27:05,600 inhabited and you know we're living in 902 00:27:09,110 --> 00:27:07,600 the solar system that i've seen um 903 00:27:10,630 --> 00:27:09,120 i keep waiting for them to go to europa 904 00:27:13,029 --> 00:27:10,640 and they haven't yet but you know 905 00:27:14,230 --> 00:27:13,039 i'm watching for it yeah i i really hope 906 00:27:15,669 --> 00:27:14,240 so it'd be awesome 907 00:27:17,269 --> 00:27:15,679 yeah i've read the books as well and i'm 908 00:27:19,029 --> 00:27:17,279 kind of sad that they only have one more 909 00:27:20,710 --> 00:27:19,039 season now of the show because 910 00:27:22,230 --> 00:27:20,720 books seven and eight kind of go into a 911 00:27:24,149 --> 00:27:22,240 much bigger place 912 00:27:26,310 --> 00:27:24,159 um cosmically speaking for science 913 00:27:27,750 --> 00:27:26,320 fiction um which is pretty awesome so 914 00:27:29,510 --> 00:27:27,760 hopefully they'll do europa eventually 915 00:27:31,669 --> 00:27:29,520 that would be pretty cool um 916 00:27:33,350 --> 00:27:31,679 if they did that i think we will move 917 00:27:34,950 --> 00:27:33,360 now to our audience q a 918 00:27:36,470 --> 00:27:34,960 uh we do have a bunch of questions 919 00:27:38,470 --> 00:27:36,480 rolling in already 920 00:27:39,750 --> 00:27:38,480 um so let's start off with a question 921 00:27:41,430 --> 00:27:39,760 from facebook 922 00:27:42,870 --> 00:27:41,440 from rebecca jennifer jennifer 923 00:27:44,630 --> 00:27:42,880 elderbrock 924 00:27:46,470 --> 00:27:44,640 rebecca wants to know what is the most 925 00:27:48,149 --> 00:27:46,480 important physics or astronomy class 926 00:27:49,990 --> 00:27:48,159 that you took in undergrad 927 00:27:51,190 --> 00:27:50,000 that prepared you to get accepted into 928 00:27:53,510 --> 00:27:51,200 graduate school 929 00:27:54,230 --> 00:27:53,520 um that's a really that's a really good 930 00:27:56,149 --> 00:27:54,240 question 931 00:27:57,430 --> 00:27:56,159 and i would say that probably the most 932 00:28:00,230 --> 00:27:57,440 important thing that i did as an 933 00:28:03,269 --> 00:28:00,240 undergrad was to do research 934 00:28:05,269 --> 00:28:03,279 so we had we had a couple of different 935 00:28:07,350 --> 00:28:05,279 um they were called tutorial sessions 936 00:28:09,669 --> 00:28:07,360 but basically you sort of like 937 00:28:11,029 --> 00:28:09,679 you met with various members of the 938 00:28:12,470 --> 00:28:11,039 astronomy department 939 00:28:13,909 --> 00:28:12,480 and then you kind of picked one of them 940 00:28:15,669 --> 00:28:13,919 as a sophomore to like write a little 941 00:28:17,269 --> 00:28:15,679 research paper with and then 942 00:28:19,350 --> 00:28:17,279 you could you know kind of move on and 943 00:28:21,269 --> 00:28:19,360 do a different one in your junior year 944 00:28:23,190 --> 00:28:21,279 um and then and then i did you know a 945 00:28:25,190 --> 00:28:23,200 senior thesis as a senior 946 00:28:27,269 --> 00:28:25,200 um and so getting involved with with 947 00:28:29,029 --> 00:28:27,279 research as an undergraduate 948 00:28:30,470 --> 00:28:29,039 i think that that was really one of the 949 00:28:33,029 --> 00:28:30,480 key things i mean obviously you want to 950 00:28:34,950 --> 00:28:33,039 do well in your core classes 951 00:28:36,630 --> 00:28:34,960 but you want to really you know worry 952 00:28:38,710 --> 00:28:36,640 about grades but really also worry about 953 00:28:40,389 --> 00:28:38,720 just having a deep understanding of the 954 00:28:42,710 --> 00:28:40,399 fundamentals of you know whether you're 955 00:28:45,269 --> 00:28:42,720 in physics or chemistry or geology 956 00:28:46,789 --> 00:28:45,279 or you know astronomy um but really it's 957 00:28:47,990 --> 00:28:46,799 the opportunity to sort of get your feet 958 00:28:49,510 --> 00:28:48,000 wet with research and 959 00:28:51,110 --> 00:28:49,520 you know do one of these there's these 960 00:28:52,389 --> 00:28:51,120 research experience or undergraduate 961 00:28:53,590 --> 00:28:52,399 summer programs you can do where you 962 00:28:55,350 --> 00:28:53,600 actually get paid 963 00:28:57,350 --> 00:28:55,360 you know to go somewhere for a summer 964 00:28:59,190 --> 00:28:57,360 and do research right and with coveted 965 00:29:01,190 --> 00:28:59,200 times that's harder these days but 966 00:29:02,630 --> 00:29:01,200 it's such a great opportunity to see if 967 00:29:04,470 --> 00:29:02,640 you like it right before you get to 968 00:29:06,389 --> 00:29:04,480 graduate school 969 00:29:07,590 --> 00:29:06,399 yeah i agree entirely i was very lucky i 970 00:29:09,430 --> 00:29:07,600 did an reu 971 00:29:10,950 --> 00:29:09,440 at the graduate school of oceanography 972 00:29:11,750 --> 00:29:10,960 as well as an internship at the nasa 973 00:29:13,430 --> 00:29:11,760 academy 974 00:29:15,590 --> 00:29:13,440 at ames and those things as undergrads 975 00:29:16,070 --> 00:29:15,600 were really important in my future 976 00:29:17,590 --> 00:29:16,080 career 977 00:29:19,590 --> 00:29:17,600 and kind of helping me figure out what i 978 00:29:21,590 --> 00:29:19,600 wanted to do as well 979 00:29:23,029 --> 00:29:21,600 now you are working now at nasa's jet 980 00:29:24,870 --> 00:29:23,039 propulsion laboratory 981 00:29:26,310 --> 00:29:24,880 we have another question from facebook 982 00:29:27,750 --> 00:29:26,320 from stephanie carr 983 00:29:30,789 --> 00:29:27,760 uh stephanie wants to know what your 984 00:29:33,190 --> 00:29:30,799 typical work day actually looks like 985 00:29:33,990 --> 00:29:33,200 that's a great question and um you know 986 00:29:35,669 --> 00:29:34,000 you've seen those 987 00:29:37,269 --> 00:29:35,679 those little internet memes where it's 988 00:29:38,630 --> 00:29:37,279 like you know what i think i do and what 989 00:29:40,389 --> 00:29:38,640 my parents think i do and what i 990 00:29:41,510 --> 00:29:40,399 actually do right so you know if you 991 00:29:42,950 --> 00:29:41,520 apply one of those there's one of those 992 00:29:44,389 --> 00:29:42,960 about working at nasa where it's like 993 00:29:45,909 --> 00:29:44,399 what i think i do and it's like you know 994 00:29:47,430 --> 00:29:45,919 you're in a spacesuit and 995 00:29:48,789 --> 00:29:47,440 what my parents think i do and you're 996 00:29:49,430 --> 00:29:48,799 like flying the millennium falcon or 997 00:29:51,029 --> 00:29:49,440 something and then 998 00:29:52,549 --> 00:29:51,039 what i actually do and it's a picture of 999 00:29:54,389 --> 00:29:52,559 people at a conference room and 1000 00:29:56,710 --> 00:29:54,399 you're having a meeting and you know 1001 00:29:59,669 --> 00:29:56,720 honestly it's a lot of meetings 1002 00:30:01,190 --> 00:29:59,679 but you know that said some of those 1003 00:30:03,110 --> 00:30:01,200 meetings are amazing right so 1004 00:30:04,789 --> 00:30:03,120 we'll be we'll be talking we'll be in 1005 00:30:06,230 --> 00:30:04,799 one meeting where we're talking about 1006 00:30:07,510 --> 00:30:06,240 okay how are we going to get these two 1007 00:30:08,070 --> 00:30:07,520 instruments on the europa clipper 1008 00:30:09,990 --> 00:30:08,080 spacecraft 1009 00:30:11,110 --> 00:30:10,000 to work together is there a conflict or 1010 00:30:13,110 --> 00:30:11,120 you know can they both take 1011 00:30:14,789 --> 00:30:13,120 observations at the same time and then 1012 00:30:16,389 --> 00:30:14,799 it'll be in another meeting where it's 1013 00:30:17,909 --> 00:30:16,399 you know we're talking about a future 1014 00:30:20,149 --> 00:30:17,919 you know a mission concept we're 1015 00:30:21,430 --> 00:30:20,159 like wow could we actually like drive 1016 00:30:21,990 --> 00:30:21,440 something around on the surface of 1017 00:30:23,590 --> 00:30:22,000 enceladus 1018 00:30:25,510 --> 00:30:23,600 or is the gravity too low so i'll be in 1019 00:30:26,950 --> 00:30:25,520 a meeting like that and then i'll be in 1020 00:30:29,029 --> 00:30:26,960 a meeting so i'm also the science 1021 00:30:30,789 --> 00:30:29,039 communications lead for europa clipper 1022 00:30:32,310 --> 00:30:30,799 so i'll be in a meeting where we're like 1023 00:30:34,310 --> 00:30:32,320 wow you know we're working on our new 1024 00:30:35,750 --> 00:30:34,320 graphic identifier design and you know 1025 00:30:36,230 --> 00:30:35,760 what should it look like and how are we 1026 00:30:38,710 --> 00:30:36,240 gonna get 1027 00:30:40,230 --> 00:30:38,720 get across the whole spirit of europa to 1028 00:30:41,830 --> 00:30:40,240 the general public 1029 00:30:43,350 --> 00:30:41,840 um and then i'll be in another meeting 1030 00:30:46,149 --> 00:30:43,360 where we're like okay 1031 00:30:47,029 --> 00:30:46,159 we're gonna plan a conference to talk 1032 00:30:49,190 --> 00:30:47,039 about 1033 00:30:51,269 --> 00:30:49,200 how we're gonna how we're gonna study 1034 00:30:52,870 --> 00:30:51,279 the surface of europa with instruments 1035 00:30:54,549 --> 00:30:52,880 that are on a landed spacecraft so 1036 00:30:56,310 --> 00:30:54,559 you know it's really it's a lot of these 1037 00:30:58,950 --> 00:30:56,320 working with different teams of people 1038 00:31:01,590 --> 00:30:58,960 in a very collaborative way 1039 00:31:03,110 --> 00:31:01,600 awesome uh that i mean it's so important 1040 00:31:03,509 --> 00:31:03,120 the science to know how to work in teams 1041 00:31:04,710 --> 00:31:03,519 i mean 1042 00:31:06,789 --> 00:31:04,720 that's a really important thing for us 1043 00:31:08,470 --> 00:31:06,799 all to remember uh our next question 1044 00:31:11,350 --> 00:31:08,480 comes from segon net uh 1045 00:31:12,549 --> 00:31:11,360 a user named omar a lady uh wants to 1046 00:31:14,549 --> 00:31:12,559 know for the landing 1047 00:31:15,909 --> 00:31:14,559 uh for for a lander mission if a landing 1048 00:31:17,430 --> 00:31:15,919 site has been chosen 1049 00:31:19,430 --> 00:31:17,440 and what reasons would be for choosing 1050 00:31:20,149 --> 00:31:19,440 that site um and i think it's pretty 1051 00:31:21,990 --> 00:31:20,159 important for 1052 00:31:23,830 --> 00:31:22,000 for uh him and for others to know you 1053 00:31:25,029 --> 00:31:23,840 know that the lander is still a concept 1054 00:31:26,630 --> 00:31:25,039 and the important thing you mentioned 1055 00:31:27,269 --> 00:31:26,640 earlier is that clipper is going there 1056 00:31:28,630 --> 00:31:27,279 first 1057 00:31:30,470 --> 00:31:28,640 so i wonder if you could speak about the 1058 00:31:31,990 --> 00:31:30,480 importance of using clipper to find a 1059 00:31:34,310 --> 00:31:32,000 landing site 1060 00:31:35,909 --> 00:31:34,320 yeah sure so i actually am and one of 1061 00:31:37,669 --> 00:31:35,919 the the co-chairs of what's called the 1062 00:31:39,830 --> 00:31:37,679 reconnaissance focus group 1063 00:31:41,750 --> 00:31:39,840 and so this is a group that that it's 1064 00:31:43,029 --> 00:31:41,760 sort of in between europa clipper 1065 00:31:45,029 --> 00:31:43,039 which is you know again it's like an 1066 00:31:46,310 --> 00:31:45,039 approved mission it's going and europa 1067 00:31:47,110 --> 00:31:46,320 lander which is still this mission 1068 00:31:49,509 --> 00:31:47,120 concept 1069 00:31:50,549 --> 00:31:49,519 so what we want to do is make sure that 1070 00:31:53,269 --> 00:31:50,559 europa clipper 1071 00:31:55,110 --> 00:31:53,279 takes the right data set so that a 1072 00:31:56,710 --> 00:31:55,120 future follow-up whether it's you know 1073 00:31:57,669 --> 00:31:56,720 the europa lander mission concept that 1074 00:32:00,070 --> 00:31:57,679 i've been working on 1075 00:32:01,110 --> 00:32:00,080 or some other mission it's going to need 1076 00:32:03,269 --> 00:32:01,120 to use the data 1077 00:32:04,389 --> 00:32:03,279 taken by europa clipper to find a 1078 00:32:06,389 --> 00:32:04,399 landing site 1079 00:32:07,590 --> 00:32:06,399 and so when you're looking for a landing 1080 00:32:09,509 --> 00:32:07,600 site in europa 1081 00:32:11,350 --> 00:32:09,519 there's sort of two categories of 1082 00:32:13,430 --> 00:32:11,360 information you need the first 1083 00:32:15,190 --> 00:32:13,440 is you want to find some place that's 1084 00:32:16,870 --> 00:32:15,200 scientifically interesting 1085 00:32:18,549 --> 00:32:16,880 right the last thing you want to do is 1086 00:32:19,830 --> 00:32:18,559 land in europa and you pick like this 1087 00:32:20,549 --> 00:32:19,840 place you're like oh it looks amazing 1088 00:32:22,310 --> 00:32:20,559 you land there 1089 00:32:23,509 --> 00:32:22,320 and all there is is ice there's nothing 1090 00:32:25,190 --> 00:32:23,519 else right that would be really 1091 00:32:26,470 --> 00:32:25,200 disappointing because we're going there 1092 00:32:27,990 --> 00:32:26,480 you know we know there's ice on your 1093 00:32:28,789 --> 00:32:28,000 upper right we don't need to go there to 1094 00:32:30,389 --> 00:32:28,799 know there's eyes 1095 00:32:32,389 --> 00:32:30,399 we want to look for the good stuff the 1096 00:32:32,950 --> 00:32:32,399 other stuff right other biosignatures 1097 00:32:35,190 --> 00:32:32,960 are there 1098 00:32:37,110 --> 00:32:35,200 interesting chemicals on the surface 1099 00:32:38,950 --> 00:32:37,120 right so you want to pick a place that's 1100 00:32:41,990 --> 00:32:38,960 scientifically interesting 1101 00:32:45,029 --> 00:32:42,000 but you also have to pick a place that's 1102 00:32:47,269 --> 00:32:45,039 safe engineering-wise to land on and so 1103 00:32:48,549 --> 00:32:47,279 this is always the the tension when 1104 00:32:49,909 --> 00:32:48,559 you're choosing a landing site 1105 00:32:51,509 --> 00:32:49,919 because the scientists are like oh if we 1106 00:32:52,950 --> 00:32:51,519 could only land halfway up that cliff 1107 00:32:54,549 --> 00:32:52,960 look there's this amazing thing there 1108 00:32:56,710 --> 00:32:54,559 and then the engineer's like no you're 1109 00:32:58,230 --> 00:32:56,720 landing on this completely flat plane i 1110 00:32:59,990 --> 00:32:58,240 don't care how boring it is this is 1111 00:33:01,830 --> 00:33:00,000 where we can put our spacecraft 1112 00:33:03,590 --> 00:33:01,840 and so this is what we're working on is 1113 00:33:04,389 --> 00:33:03,600 how can we make sure that europa clipper 1114 00:33:06,389 --> 00:33:04,399 collects 1115 00:33:08,470 --> 00:33:06,399 the right data sets all the information 1116 00:33:10,149 --> 00:33:08,480 we need not just from the cameras but 1117 00:33:12,149 --> 00:33:10,159 with all the other instruments so that 1118 00:33:14,789 --> 00:33:12,159 we can choose a place to land that's 1119 00:33:16,630 --> 00:33:14,799 scientifically interesting but is also 1120 00:33:18,950 --> 00:33:16,640 satisfies these engineering safety 1121 00:33:20,470 --> 00:33:18,960 criteria 1122 00:33:21,990 --> 00:33:20,480 yeah and so for people you know for 1123 00:33:23,430 --> 00:33:22,000 instance when we see you know mars and 1124 00:33:24,470 --> 00:33:23,440 we're landing there people see that big 1125 00:33:25,669 --> 00:33:24,480 ellipse where 1126 00:33:27,269 --> 00:33:25,679 we're landing inside and there's these 1127 00:33:27,990 --> 00:33:27,279 landing site selection committees that 1128 00:33:30,310 --> 00:33:28,000 go through 1129 00:33:31,669 --> 00:33:30,320 a huge process of finding the site and 1130 00:33:33,669 --> 00:33:31,679 and for me myself like i mentioned 1131 00:33:34,870 --> 00:33:33,679 i've done research relevant to analogues 1132 00:33:37,190 --> 00:33:34,880 for for 1133 00:33:38,789 --> 00:33:37,200 europa and the landing mission and so 1134 00:33:40,630 --> 00:33:38,799 i'm super excited about the potential 1135 00:33:41,990 --> 00:33:40,640 for finding that right landing site and 1136 00:33:42,870 --> 00:33:42,000 for all of us in the community working 1137 00:33:44,870 --> 00:33:42,880 together 1138 00:33:46,310 --> 00:33:44,880 um especially you know under the 1139 00:33:47,909 --> 00:33:46,320 leadership of the clipper team to make 1140 00:33:49,029 --> 00:33:47,919 that work the best way we could possibly 1141 00:33:51,830 --> 00:33:49,039 can 1142 00:33:52,389 --> 00:33:51,840 let's jump into the ocean of europa now 1143 00:33:55,430 --> 00:33:52,399 uh 1144 00:33:57,830 --> 00:33:55,440 user at malik minorinjin 1145 00:33:59,509 --> 00:33:57,840 on twitter has a couple of questions 1146 00:34:02,470 --> 00:33:59,519 together about the water 1147 00:34:03,909 --> 00:34:02,480 inside of europa so they say yes europa 1148 00:34:06,470 --> 00:34:03,919 is a significant moon 1149 00:34:07,110 --> 00:34:06,480 but is the water really drinkable and 1150 00:34:10,310 --> 00:34:07,120 could we make 1151 00:34:11,349 --> 00:34:10,320 oxygen from that water so those are 1152 00:34:15,030 --> 00:34:11,359 really good questions 1153 00:34:16,550 --> 00:34:15,040 um so we know that we know that there's 1154 00:34:18,629 --> 00:34:16,560 water in europa from 1155 00:34:20,230 --> 00:34:18,639 these gravity measurements and also 1156 00:34:22,230 --> 00:34:20,240 these magnetic field measurements that 1157 00:34:23,190 --> 00:34:22,240 were made by the galileo spacecraft so 1158 00:34:25,829 --> 00:34:23,200 back in the 1159 00:34:27,510 --> 00:34:25,839 in the 1990s um so we know that there's 1160 00:34:29,669 --> 00:34:27,520 this layer on europa 1161 00:34:30,710 --> 00:34:29,679 that has a solid layer at the surface 1162 00:34:33,349 --> 00:34:30,720 with a density of 1163 00:34:34,790 --> 00:34:33,359 of water ice and then below that is this 1164 00:34:38,069 --> 00:34:34,800 layer of liquid water 1165 00:34:39,990 --> 00:34:38,079 and unfortunately the the density of 1166 00:34:41,190 --> 00:34:40,000 solid ice and liquid water they're so 1167 00:34:43,109 --> 00:34:41,200 close to each other that 1168 00:34:44,310 --> 00:34:43,119 the galileo spacecraft couldn't 1169 00:34:46,149 --> 00:34:44,320 completely determine 1170 00:34:47,349 --> 00:34:46,159 how much is frozen ice and how much is 1171 00:34:49,109 --> 00:34:47,359 liquid water 1172 00:34:50,470 --> 00:34:49,119 but we were able to use the magnetic 1173 00:34:53,349 --> 00:34:50,480 field measurements 1174 00:34:55,349 --> 00:34:53,359 to determine that there's this weird 1175 00:34:56,389 --> 00:34:55,359 induced magnetic field signal coming 1176 00:34:58,150 --> 00:34:56,399 from europa 1177 00:35:00,710 --> 00:34:58,160 and you know if you go through all the 1178 00:35:03,589 --> 00:35:00,720 calculations you realize that really 1179 00:35:05,190 --> 00:35:03,599 a global layer of salt water would give 1180 00:35:07,270 --> 00:35:05,200 us that conducting signature 1181 00:35:08,470 --> 00:35:07,280 so that's how we know it's salty and it 1182 00:35:09,349 --> 00:35:08,480 turns out it doesn't even have to be 1183 00:35:11,670 --> 00:35:09,359 that salty 1184 00:35:14,630 --> 00:35:11,680 it's actually less salty probably than 1185 00:35:16,310 --> 00:35:14,640 the sea water the ocean water on earth 1186 00:35:17,910 --> 00:35:16,320 and so you know you probably wouldn't 1187 00:35:19,430 --> 00:35:17,920 want to drink ocean water like if you're 1188 00:35:20,950 --> 00:35:19,440 a human because we're you know 1189 00:35:23,190 --> 00:35:20,960 we're used to drinking fresh water on 1190 00:35:24,390 --> 00:35:23,200 the land but there's plenty of creatures 1191 00:35:26,310 --> 00:35:24,400 that live in our ocean that are 1192 00:35:27,670 --> 00:35:26,320 perfectly happy living in that kind of 1193 00:35:30,069 --> 00:35:27,680 salty water 1194 00:35:31,589 --> 00:35:30,079 um so so i would say that yeah you know 1195 00:35:32,790 --> 00:35:31,599 maybe you personally wouldn't want to 1196 00:35:34,069 --> 00:35:32,800 drink it maybe it's good to like gargle 1197 00:35:35,349 --> 00:35:34,079 with and clean out your throat with 1198 00:35:37,349 --> 00:35:35,359 right but you probably wouldn't want to 1199 00:35:39,349 --> 00:35:37,359 drink it but it's not going to kill you 1200 00:35:40,950 --> 00:35:39,359 um but if you're a fish you'd be totally 1201 00:35:44,310 --> 00:35:40,960 happy to live in it 1202 00:35:47,589 --> 00:35:44,320 um in terms of making oxygen um 1203 00:35:50,069 --> 00:35:47,599 yeah you know so that's a possibility um 1204 00:35:51,190 --> 00:35:50,079 but you know i mean you if you do have 1205 00:35:53,270 --> 00:35:51,200 water or ice 1206 00:35:55,349 --> 00:35:53,280 um you know it's possible to to you know 1207 00:35:56,950 --> 00:35:55,359 to modify it to use it to try to do you 1208 00:35:59,349 --> 00:35:56,960 know do electrolysis and get some 1209 00:36:00,790 --> 00:35:59,359 oxygens off of it 1210 00:36:03,030 --> 00:36:00,800 but there's you know there's no 1211 00:36:05,190 --> 00:36:03,040 atmosphere on europa and so 1212 00:36:07,109 --> 00:36:05,200 that would probably be something where 1213 00:36:08,150 --> 00:36:07,119 way way in the future if we had a base 1214 00:36:09,990 --> 00:36:08,160 on europa 1215 00:36:12,069 --> 00:36:10,000 um maybe we could use either some of the 1216 00:36:13,589 --> 00:36:12,079 ice or the water to make oxygen that we 1217 00:36:15,190 --> 00:36:13,599 could breathe 1218 00:36:16,630 --> 00:36:15,200 awesome yeah i mean it's an interesting 1219 00:36:18,870 --> 00:36:16,640 question right like will we ever send 1220 00:36:20,310 --> 00:36:18,880 humans to europa and have a little 1221 00:36:22,390 --> 00:36:20,320 colony or habitat or 1222 00:36:23,910 --> 00:36:22,400 or you know there was a europa report 1223 00:36:25,589 --> 00:36:23,920 movie that came out some years ago 1224 00:36:26,069 --> 00:36:25,599 showing humans exploring europa with 1225 00:36:28,870 --> 00:36:26,079 some 1226 00:36:30,470 --> 00:36:28,880 creatures right under the ice and our 1227 00:36:32,710 --> 00:36:30,480 next question actually comes 1228 00:36:34,150 --> 00:36:32,720 from tom caruso from facebook who wants 1229 00:36:35,829 --> 00:36:34,160 to know a bit about that environment 1230 00:36:36,950 --> 00:36:35,839 that could be possible just under the 1231 00:36:38,870 --> 00:36:36,960 ice 1232 00:36:39,990 --> 00:36:38,880 so tom wants to know about these 1233 00:36:41,910 --> 00:36:40,000 possible environments in 1234 00:36:43,829 --> 00:36:41,920 inner ocean worlds just under the ice 1235 00:36:45,829 --> 00:36:43,839 could it be a brine channel 1236 00:36:46,950 --> 00:36:45,839 brine rejection or injection into the 1237 00:36:48,390 --> 00:36:46,960 channel 1238 00:36:50,150 --> 00:36:48,400 and what kind of communication do you 1239 00:36:52,550 --> 00:36:50,160 think exists between the surface and the 1240 00:36:53,750 --> 00:36:52,560 subsurface oceans in these worlds 1241 00:36:55,750 --> 00:36:53,760 yeah those are really excellent 1242 00:36:58,390 --> 00:36:55,760 questions um so 1243 00:36:59,670 --> 00:36:58,400 when we think about life or when we 1244 00:37:01,589 --> 00:36:59,680 think about environments 1245 00:37:04,230 --> 00:37:01,599 in the in the in an ocean layer on an 1246 00:37:06,790 --> 00:37:04,240 icy world one of the reasons why 1247 00:37:07,990 --> 00:37:06,800 europa is really at the top of our list 1248 00:37:10,310 --> 00:37:08,000 of places to go look 1249 00:37:11,750 --> 00:37:10,320 for a habitable environment it's not 1250 00:37:13,190 --> 00:37:11,760 just that europe is awesome but you know 1251 00:37:14,950 --> 00:37:13,200 i mean i'll stipulate to it just being 1252 00:37:16,950 --> 00:37:14,960 intrinsically awesome right but there 1253 00:37:18,710 --> 00:37:16,960 are good scientific reasons right and so 1254 00:37:20,310 --> 00:37:18,720 one of those reasons is actually so you 1255 00:37:20,630 --> 00:37:20,320 have this ice layer at the surface you 1256 00:37:22,550 --> 00:37:20,640 have an 1257 00:37:23,670 --> 00:37:22,560 ocean layer under it but then under that 1258 00:37:26,790 --> 00:37:23,680 ocean layer is 1259 00:37:28,950 --> 00:37:26,800 rock right so the rocky core of europa 1260 00:37:30,950 --> 00:37:28,960 um just like at the bottom of earth's 1261 00:37:31,750 --> 00:37:30,960 oceans there's a rocky layer at the 1262 00:37:34,150 --> 00:37:31,760 bottom 1263 00:37:34,950 --> 00:37:34,160 and so the reason why that's important 1264 00:37:37,750 --> 00:37:34,960 is that 1265 00:37:39,670 --> 00:37:37,760 on the earth if you go to the sea floor 1266 00:37:40,230 --> 00:37:39,680 you find these hydrothermal systems that 1267 00:37:42,790 --> 00:37:40,240 are at the 1268 00:37:43,270 --> 00:37:42,800 at the base of the ocean where you know 1269 00:37:47,430 --> 00:37:43,280 you have 1270 00:37:49,589 --> 00:37:47,440 almost like you know little volcanoes 1271 00:37:51,270 --> 00:37:49,599 and you have circulation between the 1272 00:37:53,349 --> 00:37:51,280 ocean the water layer 1273 00:37:54,950 --> 00:37:53,359 it circulates into the rock it picks up 1274 00:37:55,910 --> 00:37:54,960 all sorts of interesting minerals and 1275 00:37:57,910 --> 00:37:55,920 nutrients 1276 00:38:00,150 --> 00:37:57,920 and you have whole ecosystems that 1277 00:38:03,270 --> 00:38:00,160 survive and thrive down there 1278 00:38:04,069 --> 00:38:03,280 largely independent from the sun so when 1279 00:38:06,630 --> 00:38:04,079 we're thinking about 1280 00:38:07,510 --> 00:38:06,640 places on europa that maybe could be 1281 00:38:09,349 --> 00:38:07,520 habitable 1282 00:38:10,790 --> 00:38:09,359 the bottom of the ocean is actually one 1283 00:38:12,550 --> 00:38:10,800 of them and then 1284 00:38:14,550 --> 00:38:12,560 the other one is sort of the top of the 1285 00:38:16,230 --> 00:38:14,560 ocean so so the the questioner was 1286 00:38:18,150 --> 00:38:16,240 asking about what's going on at that 1287 00:38:20,150 --> 00:38:18,160 the ice water interface so at the bottom 1288 00:38:22,150 --> 00:38:20,160 of the ice layer at the top of the ocean 1289 00:38:24,069 --> 00:38:22,160 um and so there yeah we think that we 1290 00:38:25,670 --> 00:38:24,079 see all these cracks on the surface 1291 00:38:27,190 --> 00:38:25,680 and so really one of the unanswered 1292 00:38:29,349 --> 00:38:27,200 questions is 1293 00:38:30,630 --> 00:38:29,359 can a crack that goes all the way from 1294 00:38:32,390 --> 00:38:30,640 the ocean layer make it 1295 00:38:34,150 --> 00:38:32,400 up close to the surface or you know 1296 00:38:36,390 --> 00:38:34,160 almost all the way to the surface 1297 00:38:39,030 --> 00:38:36,400 if that's it's hard to hold a crack open 1298 00:38:41,349 --> 00:38:39,040 through you know 10-15 kilometers of ice 1299 00:38:42,310 --> 00:38:41,359 right that's that's pretty deep um and 1300 00:38:44,150 --> 00:38:42,320 so 1301 00:38:46,310 --> 00:38:44,160 that's really a question could you get 1302 00:38:46,870 --> 00:38:46,320 some of the brine some of the the salty 1303 00:38:48,870 --> 00:38:46,880 water 1304 00:38:50,069 --> 00:38:48,880 could you get it up could you pressurize 1305 00:38:52,630 --> 00:38:50,079 it could you you know 1306 00:38:53,349 --> 00:38:52,640 have a thermal plume you know some 1307 00:38:56,470 --> 00:38:53,359 mechanism 1308 00:38:58,550 --> 00:38:56,480 to to help that liquid rise up you have 1309 00:38:58,870 --> 00:38:58,560 a buoyancy problem right so ice is weird 1310 00:39:02,630 --> 00:38:58,880 so 1311 00:39:04,310 --> 00:39:02,640 it's not like with a lava flow with 1312 00:39:05,910 --> 00:39:04,320 magma in a volcano where 1313 00:39:08,310 --> 00:39:05,920 you know you melt it it gets lighter and 1314 00:39:09,430 --> 00:39:08,320 it wants to come out on europa the water 1315 00:39:10,630 --> 00:39:09,440 doesn't want to come out it wants to 1316 00:39:12,230 --> 00:39:10,640 stay down in the ocean 1317 00:39:13,910 --> 00:39:12,240 and the ice wants to stay floating on 1318 00:39:15,510 --> 00:39:13,920 top so if you have any kind of 1319 00:39:17,270 --> 00:39:15,520 communication you have to think about 1320 00:39:18,870 --> 00:39:17,280 yeah is it pressurized are there 1321 00:39:20,710 --> 00:39:18,880 you know interesting volatiles that are 1322 00:39:21,910 --> 00:39:20,720 dissolved in the water like ammonia that 1323 00:39:23,670 --> 00:39:21,920 could help make it up 1324 00:39:25,750 --> 00:39:23,680 um so it's a really it's a good 1325 00:39:27,990 --> 00:39:25,760 unanswered question as to how 1326 00:39:30,310 --> 00:39:28,000 material from the ocean could get at or 1327 00:39:31,750 --> 00:39:30,320 near the surface of europa 1328 00:39:33,430 --> 00:39:31,760 that's a really good question too for 1329 00:39:34,310 --> 00:39:33,440 for leading into our next audience 1330 00:39:36,230 --> 00:39:34,320 question 1331 00:39:38,630 --> 00:39:36,240 um of what we're actually looking for 1332 00:39:41,349 --> 00:39:38,640 for potential evidences of life 1333 00:39:41,990 --> 00:39:41,359 for the astrobiology side of of using 1334 00:39:43,829 --> 00:39:42,000 clipper could 1335 00:39:45,990 --> 00:39:43,839 clipper actually detect something at the 1336 00:39:48,310 --> 00:39:46,000 surface that shows that communication 1337 00:39:49,990 --> 00:39:48,320 and even more so with a lander what 1338 00:39:51,430 --> 00:39:50,000 kinds of materials might have might 1339 00:39:52,790 --> 00:39:51,440 actually be near the surface for the 1340 00:39:55,349 --> 00:39:52,800 landing mission 1341 00:39:56,069 --> 00:39:55,359 for us to look at yeah those are really 1342 00:39:58,870 --> 00:39:56,079 great questions 1343 00:39:59,190 --> 00:39:58,880 um so with europa clipper so again we're 1344 00:40:01,670 --> 00:39:59,200 not 1345 00:40:02,470 --> 00:40:01,680 expecting to detect life with europa 1346 00:40:04,150 --> 00:40:02,480 clipper you know 1347 00:40:05,750 --> 00:40:04,160 i mean if a fish gets thrown out of the 1348 00:40:07,430 --> 00:40:05,760 surface and whacks into europa clipper 1349 00:40:08,630 --> 00:40:07,440 then okay we've found life right 1350 00:40:10,309 --> 00:40:08,640 you know no one's going to argue with 1351 00:40:11,430 --> 00:40:10,319 that but the chances of that are really 1352 00:40:12,710 --> 00:40:11,440 small right there's probably not going 1353 00:40:15,430 --> 00:40:12,720 to be any flying fish 1354 00:40:17,190 --> 00:40:15,440 so really with europa clipper we'll be 1355 00:40:18,470 --> 00:40:17,200 able to measure the composition of 1356 00:40:20,309 --> 00:40:18,480 particles that are thrown off the 1357 00:40:22,309 --> 00:40:20,319 surface so with 1358 00:40:23,589 --> 00:40:22,319 with a mass spectrometer and a dust 1359 00:40:25,589 --> 00:40:23,599 analyzer 1360 00:40:27,109 --> 00:40:25,599 if there are plumes we'll be able to fly 1361 00:40:28,150 --> 00:40:27,119 through them and measure the composition 1362 00:40:29,510 --> 00:40:28,160 of those plumes 1363 00:40:31,270 --> 00:40:29,520 but even if there aren't plumes there's 1364 00:40:32,870 --> 00:40:31,280 enough material just ejected off the 1365 00:40:33,670 --> 00:40:32,880 surface just you know single particles 1366 00:40:36,309 --> 00:40:33,680 of material 1367 00:40:37,990 --> 00:40:36,319 that we will be able to measure those um 1368 00:40:39,670 --> 00:40:38,000 but what europa clipper will also do 1369 00:40:41,589 --> 00:40:39,680 is it'll study the composition of the 1370 00:40:42,950 --> 00:40:41,599 surface using a there's a near-infrared 1371 00:40:44,470 --> 00:40:42,960 mapping spectrometer 1372 00:40:46,150 --> 00:40:44,480 that will be able to tell us you know 1373 00:40:48,630 --> 00:40:46,160 surface composition 1374 00:40:50,390 --> 00:40:48,640 there's a thermal mapper that will be 1375 00:40:52,390 --> 00:40:50,400 able to look for places maybe in the 1376 00:40:53,990 --> 00:40:52,400 near subsurface that are warmer and that 1377 00:40:57,190 --> 00:40:54,000 could be places maybe where 1378 00:40:58,790 --> 00:40:57,200 liquid is closer to the surface there's 1379 00:40:59,750 --> 00:40:58,800 this radar instrument that again it'll 1380 00:41:01,190 --> 00:40:59,760 help us to map 1381 00:41:02,950 --> 00:41:01,200 out the subsurface it'll be able to 1382 00:41:04,790 --> 00:41:02,960 sound through the ice layer 1383 00:41:06,710 --> 00:41:04,800 maybe to find these sort of melt pockets 1384 00:41:09,109 --> 00:41:06,720 or maybe even all the way through 1385 00:41:10,790 --> 00:41:09,119 awesome our next question comes from the 1386 00:41:13,349 --> 00:41:10,800 same user on sega net 1387 00:41:14,630 --> 00:41:13,359 uh prithai jaipal uh pritha wants to 1388 00:41:16,069 --> 00:41:14,640 know and you already discussed this a 1389 00:41:16,950 --> 00:41:16,079 bit uh you were talking about 1390 00:41:18,950 --> 00:41:16,960 the potential for things like 1391 00:41:20,309 --> 00:41:18,960 hydrothermal vents and how here on earth 1392 00:41:22,630 --> 00:41:20,319 they can be entirely 1393 00:41:24,390 --> 00:41:22,640 uh disconnected from the solar 1394 00:41:26,150 --> 00:41:24,400 environment from the sun's energy 1395 00:41:28,470 --> 00:41:26,160 uh and so preetha really wants to know 1396 00:41:30,150 --> 00:41:28,480 about uh since there is so little solar 1397 00:41:32,309 --> 00:41:30,160 energy reaching europa and if there is 1398 00:41:32,950 --> 00:41:32,319 life it most likely is down below such a 1399 00:41:35,750 --> 00:41:32,960 thick 1400 00:41:37,589 --> 00:41:35,760 uh crust of ice so maybe you just 1401 00:41:39,990 --> 00:41:37,599 hypothesize with us 1402 00:41:41,109 --> 00:41:40,000 what the the forms of energy might be 1403 00:41:43,670 --> 00:41:41,119 for a life 1404 00:41:44,470 --> 00:41:43,680 in the european ocean that's a really 1405 00:41:47,270 --> 00:41:44,480 good question 1406 00:41:49,990 --> 00:41:47,280 um so so yeah life on europa it's going 1407 00:41:52,390 --> 00:41:50,000 to have to be completely independent of 1408 00:41:53,109 --> 00:41:52,400 solar energy so if we look at life on 1409 00:41:56,710 --> 00:41:53,119 earth 1410 00:41:58,790 --> 00:41:56,720 close to the sun 1411 00:42:00,710 --> 00:41:58,800 the energy from the sun is such a huge 1412 00:42:02,390 --> 00:42:00,720 energy source that basically 1413 00:42:04,550 --> 00:42:02,400 life that takes advantage of solar 1414 00:42:05,990 --> 00:42:04,560 energy just it dominates over any other 1415 00:42:07,910 --> 00:42:06,000 kind of energy source 1416 00:42:10,069 --> 00:42:07,920 but out at europa we're five times 1417 00:42:11,990 --> 00:42:10,079 further away from the sun we're at 5au 1418 00:42:15,109 --> 00:42:12,000 instead of 1au here on earth so that 1419 00:42:17,270 --> 00:42:15,119 means there's 25 times less solar energy 1420 00:42:18,470 --> 00:42:17,280 um and so because of that you know the 1421 00:42:20,309 --> 00:42:18,480 sun i mean it looks kind of like a 1422 00:42:21,349 --> 00:42:20,319 bright star in the sky but it's not like 1423 00:42:23,190 --> 00:42:21,359 it is here on earth 1424 00:42:25,109 --> 00:42:23,200 so yeah life on europa is going to have 1425 00:42:26,870 --> 00:42:25,119 to use other energy sources 1426 00:42:28,710 --> 00:42:26,880 and so one of those potential energy 1427 00:42:30,950 --> 00:42:28,720 sources is chemical energy 1428 00:42:32,790 --> 00:42:30,960 and so this is where we we start 1429 00:42:33,670 --> 00:42:32,800 thinking about sort of those exchange 1430 00:42:36,150 --> 00:42:33,680 processes 1431 00:42:37,910 --> 00:42:36,160 so they there could be interesting stuff 1432 00:42:39,589 --> 00:42:37,920 going on at the bottom of the ocean so 1433 00:42:40,710 --> 00:42:39,599 if we have hydrothermal systems if we 1434 00:42:42,630 --> 00:42:40,720 have places where 1435 00:42:45,030 --> 00:42:42,640 the ocean water can circulate through 1436 00:42:46,470 --> 00:42:45,040 the crust and can pick up interesting 1437 00:42:48,150 --> 00:42:46,480 materials and then 1438 00:42:49,589 --> 00:42:48,160 then bring those dissolve those and 1439 00:42:51,190 --> 00:42:49,599 bring them into the ocean 1440 00:42:54,150 --> 00:42:51,200 that could serve as chemical energy 1441 00:42:55,750 --> 00:42:54,160 maybe for for an ecosystem 1442 00:42:57,589 --> 00:42:55,760 and then the other possibility is stuff 1443 00:43:01,030 --> 00:42:57,599 that comes in from the surface 1444 00:43:03,109 --> 00:43:01,040 so the surface of europa is bathed in 1445 00:43:04,550 --> 00:43:03,119 radiation high energy radiation that 1446 00:43:07,190 --> 00:43:04,560 comes from jupiter 1447 00:43:08,870 --> 00:43:07,200 and so the that you can create all of 1448 00:43:09,589 --> 00:43:08,880 these oxidants and organics at the 1449 00:43:11,990 --> 00:43:09,599 surface by 1450 00:43:13,910 --> 00:43:12,000 processing not just the ice but by 1451 00:43:15,430 --> 00:43:13,920 processing the other materials that have 1452 00:43:16,470 --> 00:43:15,440 you know kind of like drifted out onto 1453 00:43:18,790 --> 00:43:16,480 the surface like 1454 00:43:20,950 --> 00:43:18,800 sulfur that comes from io for example 1455 00:43:22,630 --> 00:43:20,960 like micrometeorites that come in 1456 00:43:24,390 --> 00:43:22,640 so you can create these interesting 1457 00:43:25,270 --> 00:43:24,400 oxidants and organics at the surface of 1458 00:43:27,190 --> 00:43:25,280 europa 1459 00:43:28,710 --> 00:43:27,200 and then if you have a way to mix them 1460 00:43:29,589 --> 00:43:28,720 from the surface all the way through the 1461 00:43:31,990 --> 00:43:29,599 ice layer 1462 00:43:32,870 --> 00:43:32,000 down into the ocean that can also serve 1463 00:43:35,349 --> 00:43:32,880 as as 1464 00:43:37,349 --> 00:43:35,359 fuel basically as food for a biosphere 1465 00:43:39,109 --> 00:43:37,359 that's that's living in the ocean 1466 00:43:40,390 --> 00:43:39,119 so yeah when we're thinking about life 1467 00:43:42,390 --> 00:43:40,400 on europa 1468 00:43:44,230 --> 00:43:42,400 it's very very unlikely that anything 1469 00:43:45,589 --> 00:43:44,240 could survive right at the surface just 1470 00:43:47,430 --> 00:43:45,599 because we're at you know there's no 1471 00:43:49,510 --> 00:43:47,440 atmosphere you're in a vacuum you're at 1472 00:43:51,670 --> 00:43:49,520 100 kelvin so it's really cold 1473 00:43:53,589 --> 00:43:51,680 and you're fried by radiation right so 1474 00:43:55,589 --> 00:43:53,599 it's not a good place to live 1475 00:43:57,349 --> 00:43:55,599 but fortunately ice is a pretty good 1476 00:43:58,870 --> 00:43:57,359 shield like it'll block out a lot of 1477 00:44:00,790 --> 00:43:58,880 that radiation so 1478 00:44:02,230 --> 00:44:00,800 you know once you get down even you know 1479 00:44:04,550 --> 00:44:02,240 a meter or so in the ice 1480 00:44:06,069 --> 00:44:04,560 it's a much safer place for life not to 1481 00:44:07,990 --> 00:44:06,079 get fried by radiation 1482 00:44:09,510 --> 00:44:08,000 but again we're probably unless there's 1483 00:44:11,270 --> 00:44:09,520 kind of pockets of water 1484 00:44:13,589 --> 00:44:11,280 closer to the surface we're probably 1485 00:44:15,510 --> 00:44:13,599 talking about life you know maybe at the 1486 00:44:16,710 --> 00:44:15,520 bottom of the ice layer or in the ocean 1487 00:44:17,990 --> 00:44:16,720 itself 1488 00:44:19,829 --> 00:44:18,000 yeah and that's important for people to 1489 00:44:21,349 --> 00:44:19,839 remember too is that this this life 1490 00:44:22,390 --> 00:44:21,359 could be very deep down there and well 1491 00:44:23,910 --> 00:44:22,400 protected i mean 1492 00:44:25,109 --> 00:44:23,920 we talk about sending humans out into 1493 00:44:26,950 --> 00:44:25,119 space and how we might mitigate 1494 00:44:27,349 --> 00:44:26,960 radiation and we talk about using water 1495 00:44:28,790 --> 00:44:27,359 and 1496 00:44:31,270 --> 00:44:28,800 other forms of shielding to help break 1497 00:44:33,109 --> 00:44:31,280 down that radiation so it won't harm us 1498 00:44:34,829 --> 00:44:33,119 um let's talk a bit about the surface of 1499 00:44:36,870 --> 00:44:34,839 europa then and that radiation 1500 00:44:37,990 --> 00:44:36,880 environment uh our next question comes 1501 00:44:40,550 --> 00:44:38,000 from garrett campion 1502 00:44:42,309 --> 00:44:40,560 uh on twitter garrett wants to know 1503 00:44:44,309 --> 00:44:42,319 about the color differences we've seen 1504 00:44:46,069 --> 00:44:44,319 in images of europa you see the 1505 00:44:47,750 --> 00:44:46,079 the linea they have these you know 1506 00:44:49,910 --> 00:44:47,760 really beautiful red colorations and a 1507 00:44:51,910 --> 00:44:49,920 lot of the images that were shown 1508 00:44:54,150 --> 00:44:51,920 does that coloration and the potential 1509 00:44:55,670 --> 00:44:54,160 source of these differences that cause 1510 00:44:58,710 --> 00:44:55,680 those colorations that we see 1511 00:45:00,790 --> 00:44:58,720 in images of the moon does that give us 1512 00:45:02,630 --> 00:45:00,800 prospects of finding bio signatures most 1513 00:45:05,510 --> 00:45:02,640 likely in the cracks 1514 00:45:07,190 --> 00:45:05,520 um it does actually so this is actually 1515 00:45:08,710 --> 00:45:07,200 a lot of the pictures you see of europa 1516 00:45:10,390 --> 00:45:08,720 especially the color ones they're ones 1517 00:45:11,990 --> 00:45:10,400 that i made personally actually so 1518 00:45:13,510 --> 00:45:12,000 that was one of my jobs back when i was 1519 00:45:15,829 --> 00:45:13,520 in grad school was 1520 00:45:16,870 --> 00:45:15,839 to make mosaics of the surface of images 1521 00:45:18,550 --> 00:45:16,880 as they came in 1522 00:45:20,390 --> 00:45:18,560 um and so i developed these techniques 1523 00:45:22,150 --> 00:45:20,400 to process the color data 1524 00:45:23,430 --> 00:45:22,160 into what we call these enhanced color 1525 00:45:25,030 --> 00:45:23,440 images so 1526 00:45:27,109 --> 00:45:25,040 first off most of the pictures you see 1527 00:45:27,829 --> 00:45:27,119 of europa unfortunately they're very 1528 00:45:29,990 --> 00:45:27,839 they're what we call 1529 00:45:30,950 --> 00:45:30,000 color enhanced right so that's a they're 1530 00:45:33,589 --> 00:45:30,960 very stretched 1531 00:45:35,589 --> 00:45:33,599 right so europa is not really anywhere 1532 00:45:37,030 --> 00:45:35,599 near as bright red and bright blue as 1533 00:45:38,710 --> 00:45:37,040 you see in those pictures 1534 00:45:41,430 --> 00:45:38,720 the surface is really kind of more like 1535 00:45:43,430 --> 00:45:41,440 a yellowish brownish kind of color 1536 00:45:44,870 --> 00:45:43,440 but the reason that we enhance them is 1537 00:45:46,069 --> 00:45:44,880 not just because they're beautiful which 1538 00:45:48,150 --> 00:45:46,079 you know i think they're pretty 1539 00:45:50,309 --> 00:45:48,160 but there you can also do science with 1540 00:45:51,190 --> 00:45:50,319 them and so basically the places on the 1541 00:45:53,829 --> 00:45:51,200 surface that have 1542 00:45:55,349 --> 00:45:53,839 more of like a whitish bluish color 1543 00:45:57,510 --> 00:45:55,359 those are the places that have more of a 1544 00:45:59,510 --> 00:45:57,520 pure water ice composition 1545 00:46:00,550 --> 00:45:59,520 the places that are more kind of reddish 1546 00:46:02,150 --> 00:46:00,560 and brownish 1547 00:46:04,550 --> 00:46:02,160 those are the areas that have a higher 1548 00:46:06,470 --> 00:46:04,560 concentration of non-ice materials 1549 00:46:07,829 --> 00:46:06,480 and so we're still debating based on the 1550 00:46:09,990 --> 00:46:07,839 galileo material 1551 00:46:11,270 --> 00:46:10,000 is this you know sulfuric acid is it 1552 00:46:12,950 --> 00:46:11,280 magnesium sulfate 1553 00:46:14,790 --> 00:46:12,960 like there's a variety of like highly 1554 00:46:15,589 --> 00:46:14,800 hydrated kind of salts and other 1555 00:46:17,349 --> 00:46:15,599 minerals 1556 00:46:19,190 --> 00:46:17,359 that could be responsible for this 1557 00:46:22,069 --> 00:46:19,200 coloration 1558 00:46:23,510 --> 00:46:22,079 but what we do see is that this reddish 1559 00:46:26,870 --> 00:46:23,520 brownish-yellowish stuff 1560 00:46:28,950 --> 00:46:26,880 it's associated with places where their 1561 00:46:30,230 --> 00:46:28,960 younger geologic features and their 1562 00:46:32,630 --> 00:46:30,240 features that we think 1563 00:46:34,390 --> 00:46:32,640 might be connected to bringing up 1564 00:46:36,710 --> 00:46:34,400 material from the subsurface 1565 00:46:38,870 --> 00:46:36,720 so yeah we see these reddish these long 1566 00:46:40,390 --> 00:46:38,880 linear features these giant cracks and 1567 00:46:42,069 --> 00:46:40,400 ridges that can go for thousands of 1568 00:46:44,069 --> 00:46:42,079 kilometers across the surface 1569 00:46:45,910 --> 00:46:44,079 those look kind of reddish and then we 1570 00:46:47,589 --> 00:46:45,920 see this disrupted what we call chaos 1571 00:46:48,950 --> 00:46:47,599 terrain that's where these icebergs have 1572 00:46:50,790 --> 00:46:48,960 broken up the surface 1573 00:46:52,470 --> 00:46:50,800 and those also generally look kind of 1574 00:46:54,790 --> 00:46:52,480 reddish and so 1575 00:46:56,230 --> 00:46:54,800 that tells us that there must be when 1576 00:46:58,309 --> 00:46:56,240 those features are formed and we don't 1577 00:47:00,230 --> 00:46:58,319 know for sure how they're formed yet 1578 00:47:02,069 --> 00:47:00,240 but we're pretty sure that those are 1579 00:47:02,550 --> 00:47:02,079 bringing up material that comes from 1580 00:47:06,710 --> 00:47:02,560 this 1581 00:47:07,750 --> 00:47:06,720 we're talking about places to look for 1582 00:47:09,510 --> 00:47:07,760 signs of life 1583 00:47:11,030 --> 00:47:09,520 since we think the life is in the ocean 1584 00:47:13,270 --> 00:47:11,040 we want to go to places 1585 00:47:14,550 --> 00:47:13,280 we want to study places that could have 1586 00:47:16,390 --> 00:47:14,560 brought ocean material 1587 00:47:17,990 --> 00:47:16,400 up to you know to the surface or close 1588 00:47:19,510 --> 00:47:18,000 to the surface 1589 00:47:21,589 --> 00:47:19,520 yeah and those cracks just seem so 1590 00:47:22,790 --> 00:47:21,599 appealing for astrobiologists just 1591 00:47:24,150 --> 00:47:22,800 looking at that and thinking about the 1592 00:47:25,910 --> 00:47:24,160 potential there 1593 00:47:27,829 --> 00:47:25,920 we do have a time for just a couple of 1594 00:47:29,109 --> 00:47:27,839 more questions i i do apologize to our 1595 00:47:31,430 --> 00:47:29,119 audience for those who've 1596 00:47:32,790 --> 00:47:31,440 asked so many questions as you know 1597 00:47:34,230 --> 00:47:32,800 within the half an hour that we have for 1598 00:47:35,109 --> 00:47:34,240 our q a it's always so hard to get to 1599 00:47:36,630 --> 00:47:35,119 all of them 1600 00:47:38,630 --> 00:47:36,640 but we do our best to try to get to your 1601 00:47:40,150 --> 00:47:38,640 questions if you do have more questions 1602 00:47:41,109 --> 00:47:40,160 for after the show that i can't get to 1603 00:47:42,630 --> 00:47:41,119 right now 1604 00:47:44,309 --> 00:47:42,640 feel free to reach out on twitter and 1605 00:47:45,109 --> 00:47:44,319 other places on social media send us 1606 00:47:47,910 --> 00:47:45,119 emails 1607 00:47:49,829 --> 00:47:47,920 um you know astrobiologists love talking 1608 00:47:51,270 --> 00:47:49,839 about all the things that we do 1609 00:47:53,990 --> 00:47:51,280 and so feel free to reach out and 1610 00:47:56,950 --> 00:47:54,000 connect um but we have two questions now 1611 00:47:58,390 --> 00:47:56,960 about the lander mission itself uh first 1612 00:47:59,349 --> 00:47:58,400 off marianne denton is watching on 1613 00:48:01,589 --> 00:47:59,359 facebook 1614 00:48:03,589 --> 00:48:01,599 and marianne wants to know what kinds of 1615 00:48:04,549 --> 00:48:03,599 planetary protection measures are being 1616 00:48:07,349 --> 00:48:04,559 considered 1617 00:48:07,750 --> 00:48:07,359 in the lander concept right now that's a 1618 00:48:09,190 --> 00:48:07,760 really 1619 00:48:10,630 --> 00:48:09,200 important question and it's something 1620 00:48:11,430 --> 00:48:10,640 we're definitely thinking about for the 1621 00:48:13,270 --> 00:48:11,440 lander 1622 00:48:14,790 --> 00:48:13,280 um because yeah the last thing we want 1623 00:48:17,349 --> 00:48:14,800 to do is land on the surface 1624 00:48:18,230 --> 00:48:17,359 and then destroy the life on europa in 1625 00:48:20,069 --> 00:48:18,240 the act of 1626 00:48:21,750 --> 00:48:20,079 looking for it right that's that's like 1627 00:48:23,750 --> 00:48:21,760 the worst possible case 1628 00:48:24,950 --> 00:48:23,760 and so yeah we take planetary protection 1629 00:48:27,589 --> 00:48:24,960 very seriously 1630 00:48:29,349 --> 00:48:27,599 um we would need to sterilize the 1631 00:48:31,349 --> 00:48:29,359 spacecraft like really clean it like 1632 00:48:33,829 --> 00:48:31,359 like we do with missions to mars 1633 00:48:36,390 --> 00:48:33,839 um where every inch of that spacecraft 1634 00:48:38,069 --> 00:48:36,400 is just scrubbed and cleaned and studied 1635 00:48:39,670 --> 00:48:38,079 so we want to get off make sure that 1636 00:48:41,589 --> 00:48:39,680 there aren't microbes from earth that 1637 00:48:43,510 --> 00:48:41,599 are hitching a ride 1638 00:48:44,790 --> 00:48:43,520 and then you also want to characterize 1639 00:48:46,630 --> 00:48:44,800 so you say okay 1640 00:48:48,069 --> 00:48:46,640 i'm going to clean this as well as i can 1641 00:48:49,910 --> 00:48:48,079 but i understand that i can't 1642 00:48:51,109 --> 00:48:49,920 clean every single nook and cranny of 1643 00:48:52,790 --> 00:48:51,119 the spacecraft so 1644 00:48:54,069 --> 00:48:52,800 in addition to cleaning it they also do 1645 00:48:54,870 --> 00:48:54,079 what's called like a biological 1646 00:48:56,790 --> 00:48:54,880 inventory 1647 00:48:58,150 --> 00:48:56,800 where they actually study the spacecraft 1648 00:49:00,470 --> 00:48:58,160 and they measure 1649 00:49:01,270 --> 00:49:00,480 all of the species that are on it and so 1650 00:49:03,430 --> 00:49:01,280 that way 1651 00:49:05,109 --> 00:49:03,440 so when say like a mars rover goes to 1652 00:49:07,430 --> 00:49:05,119 mars and if it 1653 00:49:09,430 --> 00:49:07,440 found something that looks like life 1654 00:49:11,030 --> 00:49:09,440 right they could compare it to 1655 00:49:12,309 --> 00:49:11,040 okay we know these are the contaminants 1656 00:49:12,790 --> 00:49:12,319 that were on the spacecraft to start 1657 00:49:15,109 --> 00:49:12,800 with 1658 00:49:17,109 --> 00:49:15,119 and oh look we just found e coli well 1659 00:49:18,790 --> 00:49:17,119 it's pretty unlikely that e coli evolved 1660 00:49:19,589 --> 00:49:18,800 independently on mars it probably just 1661 00:49:21,190 --> 00:49:19,599 hits the ride 1662 00:49:23,030 --> 00:49:21,200 right so having that sort of biological 1663 00:49:24,630 --> 00:49:23,040 inventory is another really important 1664 00:49:26,790 --> 00:49:24,640 part of planetary protection 1665 00:49:27,990 --> 00:49:26,800 so we would probably use those to use 1666 00:49:30,069 --> 00:49:28,000 some of those techniques 1667 00:49:31,829 --> 00:49:30,079 to land on europa um you'd have the 1668 00:49:33,270 --> 00:49:31,839 spacecraft in what's called like a bio 1669 00:49:35,270 --> 00:49:33,280 barrier probably where 1670 00:49:36,309 --> 00:49:35,280 it's sort of like sealed until it gets 1671 00:49:37,829 --> 00:49:36,319 close to europa 1672 00:49:39,589 --> 00:49:37,839 when you're in space obviously you don't 1673 00:49:40,870 --> 00:49:39,599 have to worry so much about it picking 1674 00:49:41,829 --> 00:49:40,880 up but you know microbes that are 1675 00:49:43,670 --> 00:49:41,839 hanging around 1676 00:49:45,270 --> 00:49:43,680 um so when you're in space it's pretty 1677 00:49:47,750 --> 00:49:45,280 safe um 1678 00:49:49,270 --> 00:49:47,760 you would probably say you'd clean it 1679 00:49:49,990 --> 00:49:49,280 fortunately on europa all of this 1680 00:49:51,430 --> 00:49:50,000 radiation 1681 00:49:53,750 --> 00:49:51,440 does help to sort of sterilize your 1682 00:49:56,069 --> 00:49:53,760 spacecraft so that can help as well 1683 00:49:57,990 --> 00:49:56,079 um and then a final thing we're looking 1684 00:49:59,910 --> 00:49:58,000 into is having what's called a 1685 00:50:01,190 --> 00:49:59,920 terminal sterilization system where you 1686 00:50:02,950 --> 00:50:01,200 basically like 1687 00:50:04,790 --> 00:50:02,960 you have you sort of like set off a mini 1688 00:50:06,390 --> 00:50:04,800 bomb inside of your your instrument 1689 00:50:08,069 --> 00:50:06,400 vault where all the instruments are 1690 00:50:09,750 --> 00:50:08,079 that that would be like a last-ditch 1691 00:50:10,549 --> 00:50:09,760 effort to basically like at the end of 1692 00:50:12,870 --> 00:50:10,559 your mission 1693 00:50:14,470 --> 00:50:12,880 you want to sterilize everything inside 1694 00:50:15,510 --> 00:50:14,480 just so there aren't any remnants lying 1695 00:50:16,790 --> 00:50:15,520 around 1696 00:50:18,710 --> 00:50:16,800 so so those are all things that we're 1697 00:50:19,670 --> 00:50:18,720 thinking of um for a land admission on 1698 00:50:21,109 --> 00:50:19,680 europa 1699 00:50:22,549 --> 00:50:21,119 that's awesome yeah and it's really 1700 00:50:22,950 --> 00:50:22,559 important for us to think about you know 1701 00:50:26,390 --> 00:50:22,960 and 1702 00:50:27,349 --> 00:50:26,400 told me before we started the show that 1703 00:50:29,270 --> 00:50:27,359 you actually have 1704 00:50:31,109 --> 00:50:29,280 an interesting anecdote about arthur c 1705 00:50:34,309 --> 00:50:31,119 clarke i think a lot of us who 1706 00:50:36,870 --> 00:50:34,319 are our 2001 space odyssey 2010 uh 1707 00:50:38,069 --> 00:50:36,880 fans of science fiction know this very 1708 00:50:39,430 --> 00:50:38,079 famous quote about 1709 00:50:41,270 --> 00:50:39,440 you know all of these worlds are yours 1710 00:50:41,829 --> 00:50:41,280 except for europa they're landing there 1711 00:50:43,109 --> 00:50:41,839 right 1712 00:50:44,390 --> 00:50:43,119 um i wonder if you could share that 1713 00:50:45,829 --> 00:50:44,400 story with our audience in the last 1714 00:50:48,150 --> 00:50:45,839 minute that we have here 1715 00:50:50,470 --> 00:50:48,160 sure so so that's whenever i talk about 1716 00:50:52,069 --> 00:50:50,480 landing on europa invariably someone 1717 00:50:53,510 --> 00:50:52,079 will post that quote or they'll post a 1718 00:50:55,510 --> 00:50:53,520 screenshot from the movie 1719 00:50:57,270 --> 00:50:55,520 it's embedded in kind of our cultural 1720 00:50:57,589 --> 00:50:57,280 consciousness that we have to be you 1721 00:50:59,430 --> 00:50:57,599 know 1722 00:51:02,150 --> 00:50:59,440 we have this we're forbidden to land on 1723 00:51:03,829 --> 00:51:02,160 europa and so back in the 1990s 1724 00:51:05,829 --> 00:51:03,839 during the galileo mission we had the 1725 00:51:06,870 --> 00:51:05,839 first europa ocean conference and these 1726 00:51:08,549 --> 00:51:06,880 were scientists 1727 00:51:09,910 --> 00:51:08,559 who were first starting to put together 1728 00:51:11,109 --> 00:51:09,920 all the clues that there could be an 1729 00:51:12,710 --> 00:51:11,119 ocean on europa 1730 00:51:14,390 --> 00:51:12,720 and so arthur c clarke actually 1731 00:51:16,069 --> 00:51:14,400 addressed the banquet at this conference 1732 00:51:16,549 --> 00:51:16,079 and i was there as you know a lowly grad 1733 00:51:18,150 --> 00:51:16,559 student 1734 00:51:20,230 --> 00:51:18,160 so i got to go to the banquet so arthur 1735 00:51:22,309 --> 00:51:20,240 c clarke addressed this banquet 1736 00:51:23,829 --> 00:51:22,319 via videophone and this is you know okay 1737 00:51:25,910 --> 00:51:23,839 it's the 1990s 1738 00:51:27,430 --> 00:51:25,920 having a video call from arthur c clark 1739 00:51:29,190 --> 00:51:27,440 in sri lanka it was a 1740 00:51:30,630 --> 00:51:29,200 big deal okay it's not like you know 1741 00:51:31,990 --> 00:51:30,640 today we take it for granted you can 1742 00:51:33,270 --> 00:51:32,000 hold up your phone and talk to someone 1743 00:51:35,270 --> 00:51:33,280 anywhere in the world but 1744 00:51:36,870 --> 00:51:35,280 back then it was like it was a really 1745 00:51:38,630 --> 00:51:36,880 big deal and you know he didn't travel 1746 00:51:40,309 --> 00:51:38,640 from sri lanka so basically he had this 1747 00:51:41,670 --> 00:51:40,319 whole satellite set up and so 1748 00:51:43,670 --> 00:51:41,680 you know so he addressed us at the 1749 00:51:45,349 --> 00:51:43,680 banquet and so you know he gave this 1750 00:51:47,109 --> 00:51:45,359 nice talk and i remember at the end of 1751 00:51:49,510 --> 00:51:47,119 it the the project scientist 1752 00:51:51,589 --> 00:51:49,520 on the on the galileo mission got up and 1753 00:51:53,750 --> 00:51:51,599 said you know sir arthur you know 1754 00:51:54,710 --> 00:51:53,760 in 2010 you said all these worlds are 1755 00:51:56,390 --> 00:51:54,720 yours except 1756 00:51:58,790 --> 00:51:56,400 you know except europa attempt no 1757 00:52:00,069 --> 00:51:58,800 landings there may we have permission to 1758 00:52:01,589 --> 00:52:00,079 explore europa 1759 00:52:03,109 --> 00:52:01,599 and arthur c clarke thought it was the 1760 00:52:05,990 --> 00:52:03,119 most hilarious thing 1761 00:52:07,750 --> 00:52:06,000 ever that nasa was asking him a science 1762 00:52:08,549 --> 00:52:07,760 fiction writer for permission to explore 1763 00:52:10,549 --> 00:52:08,559 europa 1764 00:52:12,069 --> 00:52:10,559 but he was very gracious and he granted 1765 00:52:13,750 --> 00:52:12,079 he said yes you know 1766 00:52:15,510 --> 00:52:13,760 don't worry about the prohibition you 1767 00:52:16,710 --> 00:52:15,520 have my permission and my blessing to 1768 00:52:19,349 --> 00:52:16,720 explore europa 1769 00:52:19,990 --> 00:52:19,359 so for anyone who's worried that you 1770 00:52:23,430 --> 00:52:20,000 know that 1771 00:52:25,109 --> 00:52:23,440 the aliens from the the 2001 2010 1772 00:52:27,270 --> 00:52:25,119 series are going to get angry at us for 1773 00:52:27,829 --> 00:52:27,280 exploring europa we're okay we have it 1774 00:52:30,390 --> 00:52:27,839 covered 1775 00:52:31,670 --> 00:52:30,400 we have permission i love that so much 1776 00:52:32,549 --> 00:52:31,680 we have we have arthur c clarke 1777 00:52:34,230 --> 00:52:32,559 permission 1778 00:52:35,910 --> 00:52:34,240 um so we are going to start wrapping our 1779 00:52:38,069 --> 00:52:35,920 episode uh right now 1780 00:52:40,390 --> 00:52:38,079 uh dr cynthia phillips thank you so much 1781 00:52:41,670 --> 00:52:40,400 for joining us for ask an astrobiologist 1782 00:52:43,510 --> 00:52:41,680 uh it's been great to have you on the 1783 00:52:44,230 --> 00:52:43,520 show oh it's been great to be here thank 1784 00:52:45,750 --> 00:52:44,240 you 1785 00:52:47,589 --> 00:52:45,760 and thanks to all everyone who has such 1786 00:52:49,670 --> 00:52:47,599 great questions this was really fun 1787 00:52:51,349 --> 00:52:49,680 yeah and as i said i mean we had so many 1788 00:52:52,790 --> 00:52:51,359 questions i do apologize to our audience 1789 00:52:53,510 --> 00:52:52,800 for some technical issues we had during 1790 00:52:54,870 --> 00:52:53,520 the show 1791 00:52:56,549 --> 00:52:54,880 uh during the live stream we'll try to 1792 00:52:57,589 --> 00:52:56,559 clean those up for the recorded version 1793 00:52:59,750 --> 00:52:57,599 for everyone 1794 00:53:00,870 --> 00:52:59,760 uh and yeah so many questions i can't 1795 00:53:03,109 --> 00:53:00,880 always get to 1796 00:53:04,069 --> 00:53:03,119 uh so so please you know reach out to us 1797 00:53:06,790 --> 00:53:04,079 in any way you can 1798 00:53:08,390 --> 00:53:06,800 online um and we're more than happy to 1799 00:53:10,069 --> 00:53:08,400 try to interact with whatever time we do 1800 00:53:11,990 --> 00:53:10,079 have available to us 1801 00:53:13,910 --> 00:53:12,000 um we do want to ask our viewers so we 1802 00:53:15,109 --> 00:53:13,920 talked about europa and icy worlds we 1803 00:53:16,470 --> 00:53:15,119 asked you on twitter through nasa 1804 00:53:19,109 --> 00:53:16,480 astrobiology 1805 00:53:22,150 --> 00:53:19,119 um about things like your favorite icy 1806 00:53:23,589 --> 00:53:22,160 world and to identify a feature on io 1807 00:53:25,349 --> 00:53:23,599 but we also talked about science fiction 1808 00:53:26,790 --> 00:53:25,359 a bit so what is your favorite science 1809 00:53:28,870 --> 00:53:26,800 fiction or art or 1810 00:53:30,230 --> 00:53:28,880 other media that inspires you to ask 1811 00:53:32,710 --> 00:53:30,240 questions about the nature 1812 00:53:33,270 --> 00:53:32,720 of life in the universe so feel free to 1813 00:53:36,470 --> 00:53:33,280 reach out 1814 00:53:39,589 --> 00:53:36,480 out to us at nasa astrobiology or 1815 00:53:41,190 --> 00:53:39,599 nasa astrobio at saganorg on twitter 1816 00:53:43,430 --> 00:53:41,200 and we're more than happy to engage with 1817 00:53:44,710 --> 00:53:43,440 you in conversations about this 1818 00:53:46,470 --> 00:53:44,720 and also if you want to know more about 1819 00:53:48,390 --> 00:53:46,480 the europa clipper mission um the 1820 00:53:51,510 --> 00:53:48,400 upcoming lander concept 1821 00:53:53,270 --> 00:53:51,520 go to europa.nasa.gov 1822 00:53:54,630 --> 00:53:53,280 and you can learn a whole bunch more 1823 00:53:57,270 --> 00:53:54,640 about all the things going on 1824 00:53:58,630 --> 00:53:57,280 at nasa with europa right now and if you 1825 00:54:00,230 --> 00:53:58,640 want to stay in the loop on upcoming 1826 00:54:02,790 --> 00:54:00,240 episodes of our show 1827 00:54:04,309 --> 00:54:02,800 or find out more about nasa astrobiology 1828 00:54:05,670 --> 00:54:04,319 about opportunities 1829 00:54:08,150 --> 00:54:05,680 for young students for instance in 1830 00:54:09,510 --> 00:54:08,160 astrobiology we're going to also pop up 1831 00:54:12,150 --> 00:54:09,520 a sign up link 1832 00:54:13,990 --> 00:54:12,160 uh for joining uh the the newsletter the 1833 00:54:15,430 --> 00:54:14,000 from nasa astrobiology 1834 00:54:16,710 --> 00:54:15,440 to get that in your email whenever there 1835 00:54:17,589 --> 00:54:16,720 are opportunities and other things 1836 00:54:19,750 --> 00:54:17,599 happening 1837 00:54:22,710 --> 00:54:19,760 uh and so on behalf of our team for mike 1838 00:54:24,390 --> 00:54:22,720 toyon miriam nassim sarah treadwell 1839 00:54:26,630 --> 00:54:24,400 on behalf of saginet and nasa 1840 00:54:28,470 --> 00:54:26,640 astrobiology and myself 1841 00:54:29,670 --> 00:54:28,480 thank you all for joining and remember 1842 00:54:38,170 --> 00:54:29,680 until next time to