Europa and Enceladus: Probing Subsurface Oceans on Ice-Covered Worlds
To the point
Researchers Kris Zacny and Emily Klonicki describe international efforts, including NASA's Europa Clipper and the JUICE mission, to explore Europa's and Enceladus's hidden oceans by drilling through thick ice or sampling icy plumes with melt probes and robot submarines, despite major technical and budget hurdles, in the quest to find biosignatures and prove life-friendly environments beyond Earth.