A Recipe for Geophysical Exploration of Enceladus

TL;DR

This paper proposes a geophysical exploration framework for Enceladus using orbital measurements, emphasizing gravity and tidal response data to assess its internal structure and habitability potential.

Contribution

It introduces a Bayesian approach to link science goals with measurement strategies and evaluates mission configurations for effective geophysical data collection.

Findings

Mapping gravity field constrains internal structure

Improving libration amplitude accuracy informs internal dynamics

Measuring tidal response assesses habitability potential

Abstract

Orbital geophysical investigations of Enceladus are critical to understanding its energy balance. We identified key science questions for the geophysical exploration of Enceladus, answering which would support future assessment of Enceladus' astrobiological potential. Using a Bayesian framework, we explored how science requirements map to measurement requirements. We performed mission simulations to study the sensitivity of a single spacecraft and dual spacecraft configurations to static gravity and tidal Love numbers of Enceladus. We find that mapping Enceladus' gravity field, improving the accuracy of the physical libration amplitude, and measuring Enceladus' tidal response would provide critical constraints on the internal structure, and establish a framework for assessing Enceladus' long-term habitability. This kind of investigation could be carried out as part of a life search mission at little additional resource requirements.