REASON: An Ice Penetrating Radar for NASA’s Europa Clipper
REASON — Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface — is an ice penetrating radar carried by NASA’s flagship Europa Clipper spacecraft on its mission to explore icy ocean habitats on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Developed by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) at the Jackson School of Geosciences, REASON is one of nine instruments aboard Europa Clipper, but it’s the only one that can look directly into Europa’s icy shell. The ice penetrating radar technology behind REASON was developed by UTIG researchers to study Antarctica’s ice sheet. The research stories below chart REASON’s journey from conception and development, to Earth-bound calibration, validation and journey to the final frontier.
October 13, 2024
NASA Europa Mission Set to Launch with UT Austin Instrument to Explore Jupiter’s Ocean World
One of the great mysteries of the solar system is whether the ingredients for life exist below the surface of Jupiter’s icy ocean moon Europa….
Read MoreDecember 12, 2023
Is There Life on Europa?
Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics are working to discover if Jupiter’s icy moon could support life.
Read MoreJuly 12, 2023
New Radar Technique Lets Scientists Probe Invisible Ice Sheet Region on Earth and Icy Worlds
Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) have developed a radar technique that lets them image hidden features within the upper few…
Read MoreAugust 15, 2022
Underwater Snow Gives Clues About Europa’s Icy Shell
Below Europa’s thick icy crust is a massive, global ocean where the snow floats upwards onto inverted ice peaks and submerged ravines. The bizarre underwater…
Read MoreMay 9, 2022
Newly Discovered Lake May Hold Secret to Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Rise and Fall
Scientists investigating the underside of the world’s largest ice sheet in East Antarctica have discovered a city-size lake whose sediments might contain a history of…
Read MoreNovember 10, 2020
Researchers Model Source of Eruption on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
A new model shows how brine on Jupiter’s moon Europa can migrate within the icy shell to form pockets of salty water that erupt to…
Read MoreApril 12, 2018
Newly Discovered Salty Subglacial Lakes Could Help Search for Life in Solar System
Researchers from the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) have helped discover the first subglacial lakes ever found in the Canadian High Arctic. The two…
Read MoreJune 8, 2016
‘Fundamentally unstable’: Scientists confirm their fears about East Antarctica’s biggest glacier
Scientists ringing alarm bells about the melting of Antarctica have focused most of their attention, so far, on the smaller West Antarctic ice sheet, which is…
Read MoreNovember 2, 2015
Exploring Europa
Jackson School scientists play a key role in NASA’s quest to find life-supporting environments on Jupiter’s moon.
Read MoreJune 1, 2015
Radar Techniques Used in Antarctica Will Scour Europa for Life-Supporting Environments
When a NASA spacecraft sets off to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to look for the ingredients of life, radar equipment designed to pierce the…
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