Talk About Frequent Flier Miles!

Has anyone out there read the Arthur C. Clarke 2001 books?  The original movie didn't deal with Europa, but the following books in the series (2010, 2061, and 3001) changed the destination planet to Europa.  The reason that he did this is because Europa had the most promise for actually sustaining life.  Now NASA wants to know if this is an actual possibility.

Set to be launched in 2025, NASA is sending up a spacecraft to the icy moon of Jupiter to determine if it's possible for life to exist there.  Even though the planet is covered in ice, their scientists have discovered volcanic fissures underneath the ice.  Their thoughts are that since geothermal vents at the bottom of our oceans give life to underwater organisms, even with the absence of light, that the same thing may be possible on Europa.  Some of the nine instruments that they are planning on sending up there are ice-penetrating radios, a heat detector, and high-tech cameras.

Here's what John Grunsfeld, asociate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directate in Washington, had to say about the mission:

"Europa has tantalized us with its enigmatic icy surface and evidence of a vast ocean, following the amazing data from 11 flybys of the Galileo spacecraft over a decade ago and recent Hubble observations suggesting plumes of water shooting out from the moon.  We're excited about the potential of this new mission and these instruments to unravel the mysteries of Europa in our quest to find evidenceof life beyond Earth."

The mission is bugeted at $30 million, which NASA is using to formulate exactly how the mission will take place.  Right now, the plan is to send up a solar-powered craft that will obtain a "looping orbit" of the moon.  The craft will make 45 flybys over the moon over a three-year period, some of it's flybys getting as close as sixteen miles above Europa's surface.

This is obviouly the first step in exploring the moon.  Any missions that envolve landing a craft on the moon will have to take special precautions to make sure that any contaminatents from our planet do not make their way onto Europa's surface, which could harm it's environment.