Author Topic: NASA to Hold Media Call on Evidence of Surprising Activity on Europa  (Read 25994 times)

Offline Blackstar

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We should probably cancel Europa Clipper. It's not necessary.

Offline Star One

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Won't somebody think of the planetary protection. ;)

Online ugordan

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We 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.

Offline Blackstar

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We 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!

Offline Star One

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We 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. ::)

Online ugordan

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Something of an over reaction to a lighthearted post. ::)

Only if you believe I was being serious. Which I may have been... or not?

See how that works?

That S/N ratio, though.

Offline redliox

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We 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!

No you fool!  You merely added propane to the flames!!  :o *cue firestorm of SpaceX advocated ranting*

Aside from thinking Europa is very ambitious, I would say it'd make "The Europa Report" a potential reality.  ;)
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Offline dchill

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Won't somebody think of the planetary protection. ;)
If 200 people visit for 3 days that's only: 200 * 3 * 450 avg bm * 1.26x10^11 avg bacteria per gram * 1% live bacteria = 3.4x10^14 live bacteria deposited on Europa.  Maybe you found another use for that pizza oven. :P

Offline Arb

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Europa's gravity is only 1.314 m/s2 (0.134 g)[1] so the ships landing thrust would be low but wouldn't it still melt a decent crater even given the 102 K (−171.15°C)[1] surface temperature?

Anyone able to calculate the diameter and depth?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)
« Last Edit: 09/28/2016 09:24 pm by Arb »

Offline Ben the Space Brit

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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?
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Offline jgoldader

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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?

I don't think it really matters that much; both clearly have obvious externally-driven heat sources (tidal flexing).  The diameter would matter more if they were needing endogenous energy sources, as the smaller objects would be expected to cool faster due to the square-cube law.
Recovering astronomer

Online ChrisC

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This NASA press conference was done as a telecon, with reporters calling in and looking at graphics online, and NASA does not archive those telecons.  Sometimes they briefly mention a phone number at the end (not the same number ...) you can call to hear a replay of the telecon, but you have to ... listen to the telecon to hear that number!  So infuriating.

However, in recent years I've found that SOMEONE will inevitably record the call and then put it online.  I just have to keep searching for it, or monitoring the threads here at NSF and at UMSF and see if someone posts it.  Lo and behold, yesterday I came across this upload.  The guy has taken the audio and synced it to the graphics, so in one video you have everything you need to enjoy a full hour discussion.  FAR more information than is covered in the print press releases, or any news story you'll find.

As public thanks to the guy who did this, I'll mention him here:
Matthew Travis / Zero-G News / http://www.zerognews.com / https://www.facebook.com/ZeroGnews

Thank you dude!

« Last Edit: 09/30/2016 01:19 am by ChrisC »
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Offline Alpha_Centauri

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https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/994323304453468160

Quote
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.

Paper drops on Monday apparently.
« Last Edit: 05/11/2018 06:20 am by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-hosts-live-discussion-about-europa-findings-potential-for-life
Quote
NASA Hosts Live Discussion about Europa Findings, Potential for Life

NASA 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 Arbor

Elizabeth Turtle, research scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland

Margaret 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.
« Last Edit: 05/11/2018 04:54 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline Star One

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More here.

Yes, Europa really is sending plumes of water into space

Quote
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.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/05/twenty-years-ago-the-galileo-spacecraft-flew-through-a-plume-on-europa/

Here’s the related paper.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0450-z
« Last Edit: 05/14/2018 04:50 pm by Star One »

Online zubenelgenubi

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Chris G/NSF question being answered!  Will mission ops/instruments be tweaked to better investigate plume detection area?

EC minimum fly-by altitude is ~25 km.  Fly-by trajectories could be altered to focus on this area.  Instrumentation--probably not.  Use of said instrumentation--probably yes.
« Last Edit: 05/14/2018 05:22 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline Star One

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https://twitter.com/plutokiller/status/996087664611741696?s=20

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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.

Offline Blackstar

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"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"



Offline redliox

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"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"

*shrug* Either way Europa Clipper will check out the phenomenon with the most modern tech we have brought to the Outer Solar System.  I remember reading how Io's volcanoes appear in unexpected locations so I expect, if anything, that Europa's geysers will have their own unexpected quirks that made them hard to detect.  The Galilean moons are notorious experts on being naughty celestial bodies.
 8)
"Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow."
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Online Chris Bergin

FEATURE ARTICLE: NASA confirms Galileo flew through Europa plumes, adds excitement for Europa Clipper mission -
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/05/nasa-galileo-flew-europa-plumes-excitement-europa-clipper-mission/

- by Chris Gebhardt

(Europa Clipper launched on SLS render by Nathan Koga for NSF)
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