All systems go for NASA's mission toJupiter moon Europa18 June 2015

The Galileo spacecraft took this image of Europa, whichis about the size of Earth's moon, in 1996. Credit: NASA.

Beyond Earth, Jupiter's moon Europa isconsidered one of the most promising places in thesolar system to search for signs of present-day life,and a new NASA mission to explore this potentialis moving forward from concept review todevelopment.

NASA's mission concept—to conduct a detailedsurvey of Europa and investigate itshabitability—has successfully completed its firstmajor review by the agency and now is enteringthe development phase known as formulation.

"Today we're taking an exciting step from conceptto mission, in our quest to find signs of life beyondEarth," said John Grunsfeld, associateadministrator for NASA's Science MissionDirectorate in Washington. "Observations of

Europa have provided us with tantalizing clues overthe last two decades, and the time has come toseek answers to one of humanity's most profoundquestions."

NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter in the late 1990sproduced strong evidence that Europa, about thesize of Earth's moon, has an ocean beneath itsfrozen crust. If proven to exist, this global oceancould hold more than twice as much water asEarth. With abundant salt water, a rocky sea floor,and the energy and chemistry provided by tidalheating, Europa may have the ingredients neededto support simple organisms.

The mission plan calls for a spacecraft to belaunched to Jupiter in the 2020s, arriving in thedistant planet's orbit after a journey of severalyears. The spacecraft would orbit the giant planetabout every two weeks, providing manyopportunities for close flybys of Europa. Themission plan includes 45 flybys, during which thespacecraft would image the moon's icy surface athigh resolution and investigate its composition andthe structure of its interior and icy shell.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) inPasadena, California, has been assigned theresponsibility of managing the project. JPL hasbeen studying the multiple-flyby mission concept, incollaboration with the Johns Hopkins UniversityApplied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,Maryland, since 2011.

Instruments selected for the Europa mission'sscientific payload were announced by NASA onMay 26. Institutions supplying instruments includeAPL; JPL; Arizona State University, Tempe; theUniversity of Texas at Austin; Southwest ResearchInstitute, San Antonio and the University ofColorado, Boulder.

"It's a great day for science," said Joan Salute,Europa program executive at NASA Headquarters

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in Washington. "We are thrilled to pass the firstmajor milestone in the lifecycle of a mission that willultimately inform us on the habitability of Europa."

Provided by NASAAPA citation: All systems go for NASA's mission to Jupiter moon Europa (2015, June 18) retrieved 17July 2018 from https://phys.org/news/2015-06-nasa-mission-jupiter-moon-europa.html

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