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| Paper: |
Assessing Ocean World Habitability with HWO |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
411 |
| Authors: |
R. J. Cartwright; L. C. Quick; M. Neveu; T. M. Becker; J. C. Castillo-Rogez; K. France; S. Kameda; A. Roberge; U. Raut; K. L. Craft; M. W. McElwain; G. Sweetak; B. N. Sitarski; L. C. Mayorga; J. Lustig-Yaeger; G. L. Villanueva |
| DOI: |
10.26624/OEOI6161 |
| Abstract: |
The instrument payload of the future Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will span a wide range of
wavelengths, including the ultraviolet (UV) region that cannot be easily accessed from the ground (< 350
nm). Along with its primary mission to characterize the habitability of candidate exo-Earths, HWO will be
well suited for observations of potentially habitable icy ocean worlds in our Solar System, in particular with an
integral field spectrograph (IFS). Here, we discuss future HWO observations of ocean worlds including Ceres,
Europa, Enceladus, Ariel, and Triton. We explore the observational requirements for capturing ongoing and
sporadic geyser activity and for measuring the spectral signatures of astrobiologically-relevant compounds,
including water, salts, organics, and other bioessential components. We consider the key observing require-
ments for an IFS, including wavelength coverage, resolving power (R), angular resolution, and field-of-view
(FOV). We also outline some of the potential measurements that would define incremental, substantial, and
breakthrough progression for characterizing habitability at ocean worlds, primarily focusing on UV and visible (VIS) wavelengths (100 – 600 nm). Our investigation concludes that a UV/VIS IFS on HWO could make
some groundbreaking discoveries, in particular for detection and long-term monitoring of geyser activity and
interior-surface exchange of components critical for understanding habitability at ocean worlds. |
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