NASA Planning Mission to Europa

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With a new budget windfall, NASA is setting aside funds to finally explore one of the most fascinating places in our Solar System—Jupiter’s ice covered moon, Europa.

Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center yesterday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the agency would be increasing its budget for another year. Bolden also explained that $100 million of the 18.5 billion dollars would go towards planning for a mission to Europa—Jupiter’s ice covered moon.

"Looking to the future, we’re planning a mission to explore Jupiter’s fascinating moon Europa."

The long-awaited news has been met with plenty of enthusiasm on social media.  Part of the reason for this is that Europa is one of the Solar System’s prime candidates for harboring extraterrestrial life.

Arthur C Clarke's famously used Europa in his 2010: Odyssey Two, where HAL states, "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE."

Up until now, Europa remains largely unexplored.

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As one of Jupiter's 63 known satellites, Europa is only a little bit smaller than our own Moon, with a diameter of 3,120 km.

But what makes it really compelling to astrobiologists is that, beneath its icy surface lies a huge, liquid ocean, completely covering its rocky core. The European Space Agency has also expressed much interest in Jupiter's moons.

Hidden beneath Europa's icy surface is perhaps the most promising place in our solar system beyond Earth to look for present-day environments that are suitable for life. The Galileo mission found strong evidence that a subsurface ocean of salty water is in contact with a rocky seafloor.

The cycling of material between the ocean and ice shell could potentially provide sources of chemical energy that could sustain simple life forms.

"Looking to the future, we’re planning a mission to explore Jupiter’s fascinating moon Europa."-Bolden #StateOfNASA pic.twitter.com/v9L46zn4Up
— NASA (@NASA) February 2, 2015

While Bolden's statements about the Europa mission were brief (at the 27:07 mark of the video below), they are historic.

Bolden states that the agency will be selecting instruments this Spring, and moving to the next phase of the project. It is speculated that the mission might carry forward the Europa Clipper concept to development.

SOURCE  Discovery News

By 33rd Square

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