Wuppertal 2015 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 56: Experimentelle Methoden: unterschiedliche Techniken

T 56.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 10, 2015, 18:05–18:20, K.12.18 (K3)

Analysis of glacial ice with acoustic pulses for Enceladus Explorer — •Ruth Hoffmann — Bergische Universität Wuppertal

The Enceladus Explorer (EnEx) is a feasibility study for a future mission to the Saturn moon Enceladus. The mission aim it is to search for extraterrestrial life in the water filled secluded cracks in the south polar region of that moon using a steerable melt down probe. We have developed a positioning system for the probe based on acoustic pulses and trilateration algorithms. This task requires a good understanding of ice properties like the speed of sound and the attenuation length in ice and their dependence on the depth in a glacier or on the direction of the propagating signals, a knowledge that could also contribute to the design of a future large scale acoustic neutrino detector. In order to increase this understanding several field tests were performed over the last three years in the Alps and Antarctica using a specially developed pinger system in addition to the existing acoustic positioning system for the investigation of depth and frequency dependencies. In this talk the findings from these field tests will be presented.