Landing Project on Europa, the Moon of Jupiter
Landing project on Europa, the moon of Jupiter 1. Introduction
This essay is aiming to present a feasible proposal for landing onto the Europa, which is the second closest moon to Jupiter. In human being’s history, the efforts and explorations of looking for extraterrestrial life never stops, from the moon to Mars, from the Voyager 1 and 2 which carry with human being information, to Galileo mission launched in 1989 and recently Curiosity rover. After investigated numerous data and images, Scientists are now focusing on a few planets and moons selected as high priority in solar system for extraterrestrial life. Europa is one of these. Of course, these data and pictures are got from spacecraft which fly hundred kilometers away from the sphere, so not enough at all. Now scientists need direct evidence. Clearly nothing is better than landing on the surface and do some experiments. So this essay will firstly discuss the science aim of this landing project and the geology of Europa, secondly discuss the possible logistics design and the sampling and detector technical, therefore, to present the whole landing picture.
2. Science aims and strategy
The aim of this proposal is to find direct evidence of whether there is any form of life living in Europa. According to the data and images sent back from Galileo spacecraft in its journeys at Jupiter’s orbits, there is lots of evidence to support the theory that there is huge amount of liquid water under the icy shell, the Europa surface (Carr et. al.1998). Since it is widely agreed the liquid water is one of the essential conditions for life, and so far Europa is the unique place where was suspected to have liquid water in solar system except the earth. This is one of the reasons why pick this moon. The second reason is that the surface of Europa is mostly plain material which is good for landing (Creeley et. al. 2000). Another technical reason is that Europa is closer to the earth comparing with other
This essay is aiming to present a feasible proposal for landing onto the Europa, which is the second closest moon to Jupiter. In human being’s history, the efforts and explorations of looking for extraterrestrial life never stops, from the moon to Mars, from the Voyager 1 and 2 which carry with human being information, to Galileo mission launched in 1989 and recently Curiosity rover. After investigated numerous data and images, Scientists are now focusing on a few planets and moons selected as high priority in solar system for extraterrestrial life. Europa is one of these. Of course, these data and pictures are got from spacecraft which fly hundred kilometers away from the sphere, so not enough at all. Now scientists need direct evidence. Clearly nothing is better than landing on the surface and do some experiments. So this essay will firstly discuss the science aim of this landing project and the geology of Europa, secondly discuss the possible logistics design and the sampling and detector technical, therefore, to present the whole landing picture.
2. Science aims and strategy
The aim of this proposal is to find direct evidence of whether there is any form of life living in Europa. According to the data and images sent back from Galileo spacecraft in its journeys at Jupiter’s orbits, there is lots of evidence to support the theory that there is huge amount of liquid water under the icy shell, the Europa surface (Carr et. al.1998). Since it is widely agreed the liquid water is one of the essential conditions for life, and so far Europa is the unique place where was suspected to have liquid water in solar system except the earth. This is one of the reasons why pick this moon. The second reason is that the surface of Europa is mostly plain material which is good for landing (Creeley et. al. 2000). Another technical reason is that Europa is closer to the earth comparing with other