Europa Jupiter Orbiter - Bob Pappalardo (SETI Talks)

SETI Talks Archive: http://seti.org/talks

NASA and ESA have recently selected the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) as the next Flagship mission to the out solar system. The mission concept consists of a NASA-led Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) and an ESA-led Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter (JGO), which would execute a choreographed exploration of the Jupiter System before entering orbit around Europa and Ganymede, respectively. The mission's overall theme is: "The emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants," and JEO would focus on Europa with the goal: "Explore Europa to investigate its habitability." While the primary focus of JEO is to orbit Europa, the science return encompasses the entire Jovian system, especially as is relevant to the potential habitability of Europa. EJSM would shed new light on the potential habitability of icy worlds in our solar system and beyond.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• outer planets
• jupiter
• jpl

[sbergman27]

@Ramshobraja A remark that Brian Cox made in one of his shows really struck me. He was standing on a sidewalk @ Fermilab talking about the future of particle physics. He said that soon the LHC would be ready & that he & many of his colleagues would be packing up & moving to Europe. It wasn't intended to be a jab at the state of science in the US. It was simply a matter of fact, informational remark about the planned exodus of physicists from the US to the new center of physics activity: Europe.

[Ramshobraja]

@sbergman27 I don't mind closing defunct facilities, but to shut down research as we are on the cusp of making great discoveries is simply sad.

[sbergman27]

@Ramshobraja Hmm. LISA too. Europe is stepping up to the plate to do the mission alone in both cases. Seems like there was at least one other mission that NASA's pulled out of leaving the other parties to take up the slack. With the cancellation of the SCSC, and the closing of the Tevatron, the US has officially ceded leadership in particle physics to Europe. Space science is going that way, too. This all dovetails well with the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" lecture series I'm watching.

[sbergman27]

@hukt0nf0nikz "theres still enceladus!!"

The more I think about it, the more it seems that Enceledas should be top priority. If there is life at Europa, it's under kilometers of ice. Might at well be half way across the galaxy. Titan has the hydrocarbon soup... but that scenario for life is super-speculative. And how would we even recognize it? But Enceledus is spraying samples right out into space. That makes it an easier study than even Mars, though it takes a while to get there.

[Ramshobraja]

Looks like the mission is not happening. Very sad how we don't care about science and space science anymore.

[jorgepeterbarton]

@Zurround100 100 KM deep, and most is probably solid, like he says in the video.

[Warren111able]

@Zurround100 ,,they aren't that deep!!(acc. to wikipedia anyway)..but I get your point.

Big things need big plates to eat from,,...I wonder,too,just what is down there.I still think we'll wait till we've settled on Callisto before sending a probe to investigate.It would take the tech. to succeed as it would to build a base on a distant moon.,esp.in this economic climate-my kids have ALOT to look forward to;}

I'll prob. be around to hear all the talk,..I'll be gratefull enough with New Horizons

[Warren111able]

,,do anything to improve the audio.??,....real shame.

[Zurround100]

The oceans on Europa are A HUNDRED MILES DEEP, We STILL have not fully explored the oceans here on Earth, and they are only SEVEN miles deep, it is STAGGERING what could be living in Europa's oceans. Being smaller than Earth with much less gravity it is possible to have larger animals, maybe creatures that are two or even three times the size of blue whales? Maybe creatures rivaling dolphins in intelligence? Maybe several MILLION species of fish like creatures? Europaology: a new science?

[sbergman27]

@Ramshobraja Personally, I'm more excited about the upcoming improvements in spectroscopy. There are tricks we can use to analyze the atmospheres of some of these exoplanets we're discovering, despite the glare of the star, using the not-too-far-away JWST. Robotic missions to the outer SS necessarily move *glacially*. Ever more clever remote probing is our best hope. We're already doing things along those lines that I never expected to see. Which is not to imply I don't *strongly* support EJSM.