Information gained from this mission (which has
yet to be officially named, but informally is called
“Clipper” by those working on it) could eventually
lead to the creation of further pursuits.
When asked if a lander is included in the plans,
Dr. Niebur stated, “We are studying a lander. Our
analysis shows that it makes the most sense to
launch it about 2 years after Clipper is launched.
We currently have a Science Definition Team working on finalizing the scientific goals of the lander,
but its primary objective will be to search for evidence of life. It will land, use a drill of some kind to
collect ice samples, and then deliver the samples
to science instruments for analysis.” Science instruments for the lander have not yet been chosen.
What exactly will NASA find when it starts to examine all of the mystery surrounding this world?
That is yet to be answered, but if speculation
proves to be truth, discoveries made about Europa
could force us to come to terms with the existence
of life outside of Earth.
What do you think that life look like? Will it be
plant or animal? How would Jupiter appear in the
sky when looking up from Europa’s surface? “Europa is tidally locked, meaning the same side of
Europa always faces Jupiter (like Earth’s moon). If
we land on the side of Europa facing Jupiter, then I
promise you we will have pictures of Jupiter hanging above Europa’s landscape. And Jupiter would
be about 20 x larger than the Earth’s moon looks
from the surface of Earth,” says Dr. Niebur.
This little, intriguing moon could hold one of the
most poignant discoveries of our lifetime. With such
irresistible potential, even Arthur C. Clarke had to
make an exception to his famous ban on attempting a landing there.
Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
necessary to drill into the thick crust to find out.
The research instruments were supplied by various institutions including: APL; JPL; Arizona State
University, Tempe; University of Texas at Austin;
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio and the
University of Colorado, Boulder. The list of instruments selected to make the trip are as follows:
• Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding
(PIMS)
• Interior Characterization of Europa using MAGnetometry (ICEMAG)
• Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa
(MISE)
• Europa Imaging System (EIS)
• Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding:
Ocean to Near-surface (REASON)
• Europa THermal Emission Imaging System (ETHEMIS)
• MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/
Europa (MASPEX)
• Ultraviolet Spectrograph/Europa (UVS)
• SUrface Dust Mass Analyzer (SUDA)
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