Interior Characterization of Europa using Magnetometry
[1] Magnetic induction is a powerful tool for probing the subsurface and determine Europa's ocean depth, salinity, and ice shell thickness, as well as detecting erupting plume activity.[2] On March 5, 2019, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen, announced that ICEMAG would no longer be part of the Europa Clipper mission, primarily citing recurring cost increases (over three times the original cost put forward in the proposal).ICEMAG would have observed the magnetic field near Europa with greatly enhanced sensitivity compared to a similar instrument carried by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003.[4][5] ICEMAG would have helped in understanding not only what Europa is made of, but also the processes that link the ocean to the surface, and how the system works.The cause of the cost increases was traced to the helium sensors used to detect the direction and strength of a magnetic field.