Understanding ice dielectric properties through the SWIM project

In the near future two space missions will aim to study the Galilean satellites to assess the internal structure of the icy crusts and to detect subglacial liquid water, using radar sounders. To properly interpret the radar data, it is necessary to understand the dielectric properties of the icy shells of these bodies, as they control radar signal penetration and anomaly (i.e., water) detection. The current knowledge of these properties for the types of water ices believed to be present in those moons is limited, which would potentially produce incorrect interpretations of the radar data, thus risking the scientific goals of these missions. Thanks to funded ERC Advanced grant SWIM (Surfing radio waves to detect liquid water in the solar system), we start developing new methodologies and protocols to create a groundbreaking knowledgebase that fills this critical gap. To reach this goal, we started to apply a novel methodology for conducting dielectric measurements across a wide range of frequencies (including the challenging interval used by these radar systems) and temperatures representative of the different ice-forming environments. Such measurements will be integrated with CT microtomography imaging, Raman spectra and molecular dynamic modelling, to address several unresolved questions regarding the dielectric properties of pure and doped ice.  Such pioneering research will create a wide-ranging dataset of the dielectric properties of non-terrestrial ices and will allow to obtain the maximum benefit from missions such as JUICE and Europa CLIPPER.