Missions to explore Europa
NASA/JPL's Europa Orbitor (Launch 2008--CANCELLED!)
This mission WAS to use a radar sounder to study Europa's icy
surface and attempt to determine the thickness of the ice
and whether liquid water exists below the ice. Other instruments
to study the surface and interior would include an imaging
device with multiple filters to map the surface at a resolution
of 100 meters and an altimeter to measure the topography and
characterize the tidal response of the surface.
Science Objectives:
- Determine the presence or absence of a subsurface ocean;
- Characterize the three-dimensional distribution of any subsurface liquid water and its overlying ice layers;
- Understand the formation of surface features, including sites of recent or current activity, and identify candidate landing sites for future lander missions.
Specifics of the Mission
Engineers have designed a direct trajectory to Jupiter and Europa,
as shown here, using an expendable
launch vehicle. The flight time is
approximately 3 years. A 30-second animation of the Europa Orbiter,
depicting the spacecraft is shown
here.
Unfortunately, the Europa Orbiter mission was eliminated from the
Administration's FY2003 Budget proposal to Congress in April 2002.
Project activities specific to Europa Orbiter are to be phased out
over the remainder of FY2002.
The Europa Ocean Explorer (No Launch date yet)
This is only a concept study so far. In the figure shown to the
left, you see a probe in the background which is used to melt
through the ice surface of Europa. Once it reaches liquid water,
it opens and releases a sea-exploring pod, which will communicate
directly with the surface lander, and then Earth.
The pod will search and test for the evidence of life, while also exploring any possible geological structures of interest. The figure depicts the underwater pod shedding light on a deep-sea volcanic vent, a seemingly likely location for Europan life.