Radar probing of Jovian icy moons: Understanding subsurface water and structure detectability in the JUICE and Europa missions

Radar probing of Jovian icy satellites is fundamental for understanding the moons’ origin and their thermal evolution as potential habitable environments in our Solar System. Using the current state of knowledge of the geological and geophysical properties of Ganymede, Europa and Callisto, we perform a comprehensive radar detectability study to quantify the exploration depth and the lower limit for subsurface identification of water and key tectonic structural elements. To achieve these objectives, we establish parametric dielectric models that reflect different hypotheses on the formation and thermal evolution of each moon. The models are then used for FDTD radar propagation simulations at the 9-MHz sounding frequency proposed for both ESA JUICE and NASA Europa missions. We investigate the detectability above the galactic noise level of four predominant subsurface features: brittle-ductile interfaces, shallow faults, brine aquifers, and the hypothesized global oceans. For Ganymede, ou...