In 2022, NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew by Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and used an instrument called a microwave radiometer (MWR) to peer beneath its surface. This instrument detects heat radiation from different depths within Europa’s ice shell, helping researchers learn about the ice’s temperature and composition. Since Europa is thought to have a vast ocean beneath its ice, understanding the structure of the ice shell is an important step toward assessing whether the moon could support life.

However, interpreting MWR data is challenging because different internal conditions can produce similar signals. To address this, this study explores how combining simulated microwave data with simulated radar measurements can offer a clearer picture of what lies beneath the surface. With upcoming missions, NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’s JUICE, set to investigate Europa using radar and other instruments in the next decade, the need for this work is clear as these missions will provide new data that can be used alongside microwave observations.

The goal of this project is to show that combining microwave and radar data reveals more about Europa’s ice shell, and its potential habitability, than either method alone. This could also help guide how future missions collect and interpret data.