My Calendar

Abstract: Beginning with Galileo Galilei in 1610, the Jovian system of worlds has inspired us and provided a rich environment for paradigm change and discovery. Nearly 415 years from Galileo's discovery of the Jovian moons, we are poised to explore mysteries of Europa.

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft launched in October 2024, with the goal of exploring Jupiter's moon Europa to understand its habitability. This robotic explorer will enter Jupiter orbit in April 2030, and, beginning March 2031, it will collect science data while flying past Europa 49 times. The mission will investigate Europa's habitability by studying its interior, composition, and geology, and will search for and characterize any current geologic activity including possible plumes. In this lecture, I'll discuss the mission's science objectives and how they will be addressed using an advanced suite of complementary remote sensing and in-situ instruments onboard Europa Clipper. From the short wavelengths of the ultraviolet to long wavelengths of radio, to a variety of compositional analysis techniques, to magnetic sounding of the interior, the diverse set of observations these instruments and investigations provide will paint a comprehensive picture of Europa's habitability and what lies beneath its frozen exterior.

Bio: Dr. Paty is a planetary and space physicist specializing in studying moon-magnetosphere interactions and icy moon interiors with simulations and spacecraft observations. She is a co-investigator on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission as well as on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (Juice) and is actively developing new mission strategies to explore the Uranus system. Previously she worked on developing mission strategies to the Neptune-Triton system as part of the Trident Discovery mission team and the Neptune Odyssey Planetary Mission Concept Study. She serves as the co-chair of NASA's Outer Planets Assessment Group and served on the National Academies Ocean Worlds and Dwarf Planet panel for the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. Currently, Dr. Paty is a Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oregon. She previously spent 10 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences developing a planetary sciences focus and the Center for Space Technology and Research which bridged space research interests between the College of Science and College of Engineering. Her postdoc was spent working with the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer team while at the Southwest Research Institute. She received her BA in Physics and Astronomy from Bryn Mawr College, and her PhD from the University of Washington in Earth and Space Science.