Aachen 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 85: Astroteilchenphysik: Methoden IV

T 85.7: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 28. März 2019, 17:30–17:45, S12

Simulations of radar propogation through the ice crust of Enceladus — •Alexander Kyriacou, Pia Friend, Klaus Helbing, and Uwe Naumann — Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Gaußstr. 20, 42119 Wuppertal

The sub-surface ocean of Saturn's ice-moon Enceladus is considered one of the most promising and accessible environments in the solar system to search for extra-terrestrial life. Enceladus Explorer (EnEx) is a DLR initiative to test the feasibility of sending a lander to Enceladus' south pole, which would deploy an autonomous melting probe or 'IceMole' that travels through the ice to a near-surface aquifer and perform in-situ tests for microbial life. The success of such a mission depends on accurate radar mapping of the ice interior from orbit, the surface and from within the ice.

The feasibility of using frequency modulated radar at ultra-high frequencies, deployed from the lander and IceMole is under investigation. The visibility range of radar in Enceladus' surface ice is uncertain, requiring better knowledge of the local permittivity. The effects of attenuation, refraction, internal reflections, dispersion, refraction and dust scattering are investigated using ray-tracing based simulations. The results of these simulations are to be compared against measurements of radar transmission through an alpine glacier, conducted in February of 2019. The resulting radar modulations, and the measured local permittivity will be used to train the simulations to predict radar propagation on Enceladus for given permittivity and attenuation profiles. These insights on radio propogation in ice will also assist in the development of neutrino detection using radio waves.