Euro(pa)trip
So, it appears that the 2007 NASA budget has removed all signs of a robotic mission to Europa, the 2nd moon of Jupiter. Europa has been deemed the second highest priority for exploration after Mars due to the high probability of a deep sub-surface ocean. For those who don't know, my senior design class was tasked last year with developing a mission to Europa, and I agree that it's of extreme importance.
Previously, JIMO (the Jupier Icy Moons Orbiter), part of the Prometheus nuclear power program, was to be launched sometime after 2015, exploring Jupiter's moons and bringing along surface probes. JIMO was scrapped last year due to being "to ambitious." However, as Mike Griffin stated:
“It remains a very high priority, and you may look forward, in the next year or so, maybe even sooner, to a proposal for a Europa mission as part of our science line,” Griffin testified. “But we would not—we would, again, not—favor linking that to a nuclear propulsion system.”
While this may seem promising, I should point out that NASA has done several mission proposals for a Europa lander since the 1990s, and none of them have followed through.
It now seems that with President Bush's "vision" for space exploration, the necessary increases in funding for manned spaceflight have all but crippled the scientific exploration capacity of NASA, as most of the knowledge we actually gain from space missions are from robitic missions such as the MER rovers, Spirit and Opportinity, the Saturn-bound mission Cassini, and the Hubble telescope.
As an aerospace engineer, I admit that landing on the Moon or Mars seems fun and adventurous, and may stimulate my industry with new technologies, but overall I feel that scientific gain is more important than bragging rights. It's my hope that sometime in the future funding will again be emphasized on scientific gain again so that we might uncover more mysteries like Europa.
Previously, JIMO (the Jupier Icy Moons Orbiter), part of the Prometheus nuclear power program, was to be launched sometime after 2015, exploring Jupiter's moons and bringing along surface probes. JIMO was scrapped last year due to being "to ambitious." However, as Mike Griffin stated:
“It remains a very high priority, and you may look forward, in the next year or so, maybe even sooner, to a proposal for a Europa mission as part of our science line,” Griffin testified. “But we would not—we would, again, not—favor linking that to a nuclear propulsion system.”
While this may seem promising, I should point out that NASA has done several mission proposals for a Europa lander since the 1990s, and none of them have followed through.
It now seems that with President Bush's "vision" for space exploration, the necessary increases in funding for manned spaceflight have all but crippled the scientific exploration capacity of NASA, as most of the knowledge we actually gain from space missions are from robitic missions such as the MER rovers, Spirit and Opportinity, the Saturn-bound mission Cassini, and the Hubble telescope.
As an aerospace engineer, I admit that landing on the Moon or Mars seems fun and adventurous, and may stimulate my industry with new technologies, but overall I feel that scientific gain is more important than bragging rights. It's my hope that sometime in the future funding will again be emphasized on scientific gain again so that we might uncover more mysteries like Europa.
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