We should probably cancel Europa Clipper. It's not necessary.
Quote from: Blackstar on 09/27/2016 09:51 pmWe should probably cancel Europa Clipper. It's not necessary.Plus, next time you get the urge to complain how every thread around here ends up being about SpaceX, you can just remember this post of yours as a valuable contribution to that end.
Something of an over reaction to a lighthearted post.
Quote from: ugordan on 09/27/2016 09:58 pmQuote from: Blackstar on 09/27/2016 09:51 pmWe should probably cancel Europa Clipper. It's not necessary.Plus, next time you get the urge to complain how every thread around here ends up being about SpaceX, you can just remember this post of yours as a valuable contribution to that end.I was just beating them to the punch, baby!
Won't somebody think of the planetary protection.
As far as I've been able to estimate (frantic in-head estimation), Europa is about 3 x the diameter of Enceladus. Planetary scientists out there: Does this make it more or less likely in hindsight that the two bodies would have similar activity of this sort?
Culberson notes that the $21.5 B for NASA incl funding for Europa and hands out article to colleagues that he said was just published in "Nature Astronomy" saying Galileo flew thru a Europa plume.
NASA Hosts Live Discussion about Europa Findings, Potential for LifeNASA will host a Science Chat at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, May 14, to discuss the latest analysis of Jupiter’s moon Europa and its status as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life. The event will air live on NASA Television, Facebook Live, Twitch TV, Ustream, YouTube, Twitter/Periscope and the agency's website.Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because beneath its icy crust lies a salty, liquid water ocean. NASA’s Europa Clipper, targeted to launch in 2022, will be equipped with the instruments necessary to determine whether Europa possesses the ingredients necessary to support life as we know it.Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD), and JoAnna Wendel, PSD communications lead, will host the chat. Guests include: Xianzhe Jia, associate professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborElizabeth Turtle, research scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MarylandMargaret Kivelson, professor emerita of Space Physics in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles Media who would like to ask questions during the event must email their name, media affiliation and phone number to Felicia Chou at [email protected] by 12:30 p.m. Monday, May 14. The public can send questions on social media by using #askNASA at any time during the event.
To their delight, the scientists found such a signal on December 16, 1997, during the spacecraft's E12 orbit. This was also Galileo's closest approach to Europa, when it came to within 206km and flew near the Pwyll Crater region. During this pass, the spacecraft's magnetometer measured significant changes, as did Galileo's plasma wave spectrometer. They believed these fluctuations might be due to perturbations from a water plume in the plasma surrounding the moon."The sudden, short-duration jump in the frequency of intense emissions can be interpreted as consistent with a highly localized source of plasma, thereby supporting the hypothesis that the magnetic perturbations arise from passage through a localized plume," write the authors of a new paper describing the findings in Nature Astronomy.After finding these changes, the authors sought to model the magnetic and hydrodynamic effects the spacecraft observed. One version of the model included plumes on the surface of Europa, whereas another did not. The model simulations that included plumes from Europa closely matched the Galileo data, but the model without them did not. This led the scientists to conclude that Hubble had indeed seen plumes on Europa, and Galileo must have flown near or through one.
I'm a big Europa fan and all, but I would say that, so far, all of the evidence for plumes on Europa has been hopeful, rather than truly convincing. I'd love there to be plumes, but I think we should all retain a healthier skepticism here.
"Yes, Europa really is sending plumes of water into space""Spacecraft May Have Flown Right Through a Plume of Water on Jupiter's Moon Europa"So... YES ABSOLUTELY! vs. "may have"