Lecture for 15-18 yo

Exploring Ocean Worlds in the Solar System

Several icy moons orbiting giant planets in our solar system harbour subsurface oceans that may be habitable over geological timescale. Jupiter's moon Europa shows complex surface texture indicating recent geological activities associated with its ocean. Saturn's cryovolcanically active icy moon Enceladus emits more than 200 kg per second of materials from the subsurface ocean in forms of water vapour and ice grains into space. These moons are the best targets to study habitability and search for extraterritorial life in our solar system. In this presentation, I will introduce these so-called "Ocean Worlds", their environments and astrobiological interests, and ongoing / future space missions that will shape the fields of astrobiology and planetary sciences in the next decades.

About the speaker

Hsiang-Wen (Sean) Hsu is a planetary scientist at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, USA. His research interests include the giant planet systems, the rings, moons, and their interactions, the Ocean Worlds (Europa and Enceladus), and airless bodies. He is especially interested in comparative planetology, space physics, and cross-disciplinary studies across fields of research in planetary and Earth sciences. He was a participating scientist of the Cassini mission, leading the effort in mapping the ring rain particles during the Grand Finale mission phase. He is associated with the SUDA (Surface Dust Analyzer) instrument team on the Europa Clipper mission, and a steering committee member of the Outer Planet Assessment Group.

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