Melting and Sublimation of Planetary Ices Under Low Pressure Conditions: Laboratory Experiments with a Melting Probe Prototype

Kaufmann, E.; Kargl, Günter; Kömle, Norbert I.; Steller, M.; Hasiba, J.; Tatschl, Florian; Ulamec, S.; Biele, Jens; Engelhardt, Marc; Romstedt, J.

doi:10.1007/s11038-009-9296-9

Cited by 25 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…(1-2) Heating up to the target temperature (2-3) Insertion into ice and maintaining the target temperature (3)(4) Removing from ice and settling of the thermal gradient (4-5) Heating back up to the target temperature The target temperature is a chosen value and is maintained by a thermostat-based control, which cycles the heater. If the embedded thermocouple reads a temperature of 1 C above or below the target temperature, the heater is turned off or on, respectively.…”

Section: Test Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies of thermal drills for water ice use have been produced by Kaufmann [4], K€ omle [5], Ulamec [6], Davis [7], Biele [8], Weiss [9], and Horne [10]. The water ice found on the surfaces of the icy moons is often below its triple point, preventing the stable existence of its liquid state.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The water ice found on the surfaces of the icy moons is often below its triple point, preventing the stable existence of its liquid state. Kaufmann et al [4], showed that melting can occur for water ice in a vacuum, although a thermal drill used under these conditions is still expected to result primarily in sublimation, which is the transition of a solid directly into gas, bypassing the liquid phase entirely. The primary thrust of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the sublimation process as it pertains to thermal drills.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thermal picks for anchoring on icy moons

Halperin

Sedwick

Agarwal

2019

Heliyon

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A B S T R A C T Europa, Enceladus, and other icy moons are exciting science targets, but our capabilities to adequately explore these planetary bodies needs to be developed. Gripping the surface ice may aid the stability and mobility of surface landers and mobile explorers that are sent to the surface of an icy moon. This paper presents an approach to anchoring into the surface of an icy moon using a heated pick.The proposed thermodynamic approach contrasts with the traditional mechanical approach to inserting terrestrial ice anchors. This thermodynamic approach maintains the ice structure to provide a reliable hold. The low temperatures and lack of a significant atmosphere on most of the icy moons cause surface conditions to stay below the triple point of water, the primary constituent of the surface ice for both Europa and Enceladus. Under these conditions the surface water ice will sublimate when sufficiently heated. The thermal pick concept presented in this paper is used to study the nature of the sublimation that results from forced insertion of an object into ice, which could then be used as an anchor for stability and mobility.While the surfaces of the icy moons are composed primarily of water ice at cryogenic and vacuum conditions, the nature of a sublimation process can be more readily examined with frozen CO2, which sublimates under atmospheric conditions. This paper explores the physical phenomena and thermodynamic design considerations of a heated device that uses a sublimation based insertion into frozen CO2 under atmospheric conditions. This approach was found to allow for proper insertion of thermal picks with energetic efficiencies of up to 90%.

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Section: Test Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thermal picks for anchoring on icy moons

Halperin

Sedwick

Agarwal

2019

Heliyon

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“…For this reason, several international institutions and consortiums have expressed interest in establishing investigations on Europa with the use of penetrators, with some instruments developed and tested in recent years (Gao et al, 2007;ESA, 2009;Kaufmann et al, 2009;Smith et al, 2010). In this context, Mission 3 would be devoted to delivering two penetrators on Europa.…”

Section: Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Concept for the Exploration of Europa

Rampelotto

2012

Astrobiology

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The Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) is the major Outer Planet Flagship Mission in preparation by NASA. Although well designed, the current EJSM concept may present problematic issues as a Flagship Mission for a long-term exploration program that will occur over the course of decades. For this reason, the present work reviews the current EJSM concept and presents a new strategy for the exploration of Europa. In this concept, the EJSM is reorganized to comprise three independent missions focused on Europa. The missions are split according to scientific goals, which together will give a complete understanding of the potential habitability of Europa, including in situ life's signal measurements. With this alternative strategy, a complete exploration of Europa would be possible in the next decades, even within a politically and economically constrained environment.

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“…Their mass attains several hundred kg (cross-section of $100 cm 2 , and lengths of 1-3 m). Tests performed under the vacuum were not as successful because the sublimation of the ice occurred instead of the melting, voids formed around the melting surfaces, and the probe was finally stuck (Kaufmann et al, 2009). However, a combination of the melting probe with additional mechanical devices, like a hammering mechanism (Gromov et al, 1997) or drill mechanisms (Weiss et al, 2011) may be an option.…”

Section: Sample Acquisition and Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%