Exploring the Jupiter System Employing Mass Spectrometry: Hypervelocity Ice Accelerator SELINA as the Ultimate Laboratory Analogue Experiment

The exploration of Jupiter’s icy moons — Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto — has entered a transformative era with the ongoing journeys of ESA’s JUICE and NASA’s Europa Clipper toward the Jovian system. The planetary science community is presented with an unprecedented dual-spacecraft opportunity to investigate the habitability, composition, and evolution of the Jovian moons. In this context, laboratory analogue experiments become essential for the interpretation of in situ spacecraft observations and for the calibration and validation of advanced space MS instrumentation.
Within the Prague laboratory, we have developed SELINA (Selected Ice Nanoparticle Accelerator), a unique hypervelocity ice accelerator designed specifically for the calibration and performance verification of spaceborne mass spectrometers under realistic impact conditions. SELINA enables the controlled acceleration of nanometer-sized ice particles (100-800nm) to velocities representative of dust and plume particles encountered in the Jovian environment. The facility is capable of generating reproducible impact events on detector targets and mass spectrometers, thereby providing a highly relevant analogue for icy moon surface ejecta and plume sampling.
A particular focus of this contribution is the application of SELINA to investigations relevant for the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) aboard Europa Clipper and possibly for the neutral gas mass spectrometry instrumentation carried by JUICE. Using hypervelocity ice particles containing simple and complex organic compounds, as well as supramolecular molecular assemblies, we report studies of the velocity-dependent fragmentation behavior produced during impact ionization events. The resulting mass spectra reveal how impact velocity, molecular complexity, and ice matrix composition influence the detectability and preservation of molecular signatures potentially linked to prebiotic chemistry or habitability indicators.
Our experiments demonstrate that fragmentation pathways strongly depend on impact energy and target conditions, producing characteristic spectral fingerprints that can directly support the interpretation of forthcoming spacecraft measurements. In particular, we investigate the survivability of larger organic structures and the formation of diagnostic fragment ions under Jovian-like encounter velocities. These laboratory results provide essential reference datasets for distinguishing instrumental effects from intrinsic compositional signatures in future in situ observations. A database in this direction is in progrss at the moment.
The synergistic operation of JUICE and Europa Clipper offers an exceptional opportunity to compare complementary measurements across multiple icy moons and varying space environment conditions. SELINA contributes to this scientific framework by bridging spacecraft instrumentation with controlled laboratory analogue studies, enabling improved interpretation of mass spectrometric data acquired within the Jovian system. The presented work highlights the crucial role of hypervelocity laboratory experiments in preparing for the scientific exploitation of one of the most ambitious planetary exploration campaigns of the coming decade.