How and Why We're Going to Europa, and Maybe Landing

NASA's ally in potentially discovering life on the icy moon is a conservative Texas congressman with a Europa obsession.

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Eric Berger has a fascinating piece up at ArsTechnica that traces all the steps towards the upcoming Europa mission. While the Europa Clipper is far from a done deal (the New Horizons Pluto flyby was cancelled more than once before launching in 2006), it stands a good chance of exploring this fascinating moon of Jupiter's, just a shade smaller than our own.

So why go to Europa? The ice crust, as revealed by the Voyager missions and nearly-confirmed by the Galileo orbiter, seems to have a salty ocean underneath it. And many astrobiologists believe that where there's water, there's life, at least if Earth is a good example to go by. 

There are a few takeaways from Berger's piece: that NASA was reluctant to commit to a mission; that intense lobbying efforts by a conservative Texas congressman named John Culberson led the agency to change its tune; that funding is likely to continue so long as Culberson is in power in the house; and that, most importantly, what was once just an orbiter now includes a lander component. 

Previous discussions of the mission have led NASA to push for possibly using the heavy lift Space Launch System rocket to get there. The rocket is designed to get humans to the Moon, Mars, or an asteroid, but by using it for an uncrewed space probe, NASA believes it can shave years off the journey, which can make up for the lost time in developing a lander component as well. As Berger points out, it could be a rover style, or it could be a one off lander without a roving component. If it's a lander, it could end up like Viking, or it could be a probe that lasts a brief time. 

The surface of Europa is bathed in harsh radiation from Jupiter. Were humans to ever visit the system, the only one of Jupiter's large moons considered safe to land on is Callisto, the outermost (and least active) moon. The radiation from Jupiter is so severe, in fact, that the Pioneer missions suffered instrument damage due to insufficient shielding. This may mean that the lander won't be long lived on the surface. But it could be the first step toward other missions that will go under the crust and into the ocean, like a submarine or undersea rover that roves the top of the crust, underneath 100 miles of ice.

Berger's whole piece is worth a read to get the full story of the mysterious moon and its unlikely champion, and just for that rush of feeling that we could be one step closer to finding life on another world. Get excited – the Europa Clipper is less than a decade away from launch if everything stays its course. 

Source: ArsTechnica

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