THE GOALS OF OUR PROPOSED WORK WERE TO 1) EXPAND OUR CAPABILITIES FOR TIDAL STRESS MODELING BY INCORPORATING LAYERED STRUCTURES PHYSICAL LIBRATION AND NON-SYNCHRONOUS ROTATION AND 2) ASSESS TECTONIC FEATURES ON EUROPA USING THE NEW STRESS CALCULATIONS IN THE HOPES OF FURTHER CONSTRAINING EUROPA S ICE SHELL THICKNESS AND RHEOLOGY. TO DATE WE HAVE ASSEMBLED DATABASES OF TECTONIC FEATURES ON EUROPA INCLUDING LINEAMENT ORIENTATIONS AND CYCLOID CUSP ANGLES THROUGH NEW MAPPING WORK AND BY DIGITIZING PREVIOUS DATA SETS. THESE DATA SETS CAN BE USED TO TEST TIDAL STRESS MODEL PREDICTIONS AND INFORM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF EUROPA S SURFACE FEATURES. THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TIDAL STRESS CODE WE LEARNED THAT EXISTING METHODS WERE NOT ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE PHYSICAL LIBRATION AND NEGLECTED SOME IMPORTANT EFFECTS OF NON-SYNCHRONOUS ROTATION (NSR). HENCE WE HAVE FOCUSED MUCH OF OUR EFFORTS OVER THE PAST YEAR ON DEVELOPING A NEW APPROACH TO TIDAL STRESS MODELING THAT BYPASSES THESE DEFICIENCIES. WE NOW HAVE A WORKING CODE THAT COMPUTES BOTH TIDAL HEATING AND TIDAL STRESS CAUSED BY ECCENTRICITY OBLIQUITY PHYSICAL LIBRATION AND NSR. OVER THE REMAINING YEAR OF THIS PROPOSAL WHICH WILL BE UNDERTAKEN AT SWRI WE WILL INTEGRATE THIS CODE INTO OUR EXISTING CODES FOR PREDICTING THE PATHS AND ORIENTATIONS OF TECTONIC FEATURES ON EUROPA THAT FORMED IN RESPONSE TO TIDAL STRESS. OUR MAIN GOAL IS TO COMPLETE THE CODE DEVELOPMENT AND EXPLORE THE IMPLICATIONS OF LIBRATION AND NSR ON THE PATTERNS OF TIDAL STRESS AND HEAT THAT WOULD BE PRODUCED IN AND ON EUROPA. SPECIFICALLY WE PLAN TO PRODUCE GLOBAL MAPS OF HYPOTHETICAL CYCLOIDS AS DETAILED IN THE ORIGINAL PROPOSAL.
$99,496FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio TX