Experimental study of surface erosion processes of the icy moons of Jupiter

TL;DR

This study uses laboratory experiments to simulate and analyze the surface erosion of Jupiter's icy moons caused by energetic ion impacts, providing empirical data on sputtering effects.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental results of sulphur ion sputtering on porous ice, validating theoretical models and previous extrapolations.

Findings

Confirmed theoretical predictions of sputtering yields.

First experimental data on sulphur ion sputtering of porous ice.

Results align with previous models at different impact angles.

Abstract

We use an existing laboratory facility for space hardware calibration in vacuum to study the impact of energetic ions on water ice. The experiment is intended to simulate the conditions on the surface of Jupiter's icy moons. We present first results of ion sputtering in a sample of porous ice, including the first experimental results for sulphur ion sputtering of ice. The results confirm theoretical predictions and extrapolations from previous sputtering experiments obtained at different impact angles for non-porous water ice.