PS2.5 | Icy Moons Exploration: from the terrestrial cryosphere to Titan's atmosphere
EDI
Icy Moons Exploration: from the terrestrial cryosphere to Titan's atmosphere
Co-organized by CR7/GM6
Convener: Ana-Catalina Plesa | Co-conveners: Tina Rückriemen-Bez, Panayotis Lavvas, Marc S. BoxbergECSECS, Tommi Koskinen, Conor Nixon, Anezina Solomonidou

The icy moons of our Solar System are prime targets for the search for extraterrestrial life. Moons such as Saturn's Enceladus and Jupiter's Europa are considered potential habitats because of their subglacial water oceans, which are in direct contact with the rocks below. Titan is one of the most complex environments in the solar system, a complexity expressed in a triad of manifestations: in the photochemically intense and seasonally varying atmosphere; in the unique hydrocarbon lakes and oceans, the dunes and other geomorphological features; and in the astrobiologically intriguing subsurface water ocean.

To assess the habitability and sample the oceans of these moons, several approaches are being discussed, including water plume surveys on Europa and Enceladus, as well as developing key technologies to penetrate the ice and even study the ocean itself with autonomous underwater vehicles, if the ice is thin enough. Moreover, a key aspect of habitability is linked with the geological processes acting on these moons. The Dragonfly mission, currently under preparation, will explore Titan's surface and atmosphere and will provide important insight for possible processes acting in other icy moons.

The main questions that this session aims to address are the following:
- What can we learn from analogue studies on Earth?
- What are the properties of the ice shell and how do they evolve?
- How novel observations and planned missions to these bodies contribute to furthering our understanding?
- What measurements should be conducted by future missions?

The goal of this multidisciplinary session is to bring together scientists from different fields, including planetary sciences and the cryosphere community, to discuss the current status and next steps in the remote and in-situ exploration of the icy moons of our solar system. We welcome contributions from analogue studies, on the results of current and past missions, planned missions, mission concepts, lessons learned from other missions, and more. Contributions bridging the cryosphere-icy moons communities are of particular interest to this session.