Europa probe funding

[dfried]

Hello all. This may sound strange, but does anyone know of a group promoting private, grass roots funding to NASA for a new (or cancelled) mission to Europa? Even on my small graduate student salary, I would be willing to give a lot to see this mission fulfilled in my lifetime. Would anyone else? Given the long history of budget cuts and cancellations, and the great importance of Europa to astrobiology, is anyone taking these steps? I’m assuming a significant amount of development has already been done by NASA through the JIMO program. Could private money help push such a project to completion? Any information or comments about the feasibility of this would be great. <br /><br />Thanks.<br />

 

[jimfromnsf]

"I’m assuming a significant amount of development has already been done by NASA through the JIMO program."<br /><br />Not really. JIMO never got beyond the paper stage. Private money can't help NASA, since the money would go to the General treasury fund

 

[3488]

Thats very true.<br /><br />I only ever thought that JIMO was only ever a paper excercise, to see what the<br />engineering requirements for a heavy duty, high capability, Ion probe to Jupiter <br />would entail. AFAIK, a similar study was carried out for a very similar Neptune / Triton orbiter too.<br /><br />Do not fret though, there is enormous interest in Europa & I understand a Ganymede <br />orbiter is maybe on the cards (Ganymede too is of considerable interest also).<br /><br />I would like to see an Io craft, but the huge levels of very intense radiation will kill<br />off any hopes for that.<br /><br />The Jupiter system is not done with. <br /><br />Jupiter itself, Io, Europa, Ganymede & Callisto all hold on to their secrets rather well.<br /><br />We can learn much from them all.<br /><br />What would be of immense value, would be for Galileo 2, a super radiation hardened <br />successor to Galileo, with precious few moving parts, to repeat the mission of its predecessor.<br /><br />Hopefully no knackered HGAs this time!!!!<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[brellis]

DFried - Welcome to SDC <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Some headway is being made. Depthx thread<br /><br />Pity that budget constraints delay development of a Europa Explorer.<br />Silver lining: between earthly discoveries and the success of Cassini and the Mars fleet, every day we're learning more about what to look for and how to look for it.<br /><br />space.com article<br /><br /><font color="orange">While NASA's new budget carries dire news, there are other works-in-progress in terms of Jupiter and the study of Europa.<br /><br />In June of last year NASA announced that a mission to fly to Jupiter will proceed to a preliminary design phase. That program is called Juno, and it is the second in NASA's New Frontiers Program - of which the now en route New Horizons mission to Pluto is the first in this category. JUNO would conduct a first-time, in-depth study of the planet Jupiter. It must be ready for launch no later than June 30, 2010, within a mission cost cap of $700 million.<br /><br />Also, the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently studying the Jovian Minisat Explorer (JME). The JME focuses on exploration of the Jovian system and particularly the exploration of its moon Europa. The ESA study is also looking into deploying a compact microprobe onto Europa to perform on-the-spot measurement of the moon's ice crust.</font><br /><br />Piggybacking some microprobes on a JUNO craft would be a good way to get some up close info on Europa and the other Galilean moons.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[dfried]

Thanks everyone so much for the links and information about JME. This is encouraging! I didn't know about the ESA plans. I just thought it would be interesting to think about how to help one of these projects along, as budget constraints do seem to have such a big effect. Thanks again for your clarifications.

 

[brellis]

No problema<br /><br />NASA outsources, cosponsors and collaborates with other org's all the time. You may be able to offer support by helping one of the 'satellite' efforts (pun intended <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />).<br /><br />You could also give me a grant and I'll stand at the JPL door and bang on it until someone gets a Europa mission back on the slate, hehe. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[grdja]

Sadly, with the over expensive VSE program, i fear we might not see another grand probe to Jupiter (or any other outer planet) in decades, if not even more.<br /><br />

 

[h2ouniverse]

Actually JME (now Laplace mission) is only one of the many candidates to ESA Cosmic Vision, in the "Large Mission" category. They will preselect 3 of them by October.<br />Let's cross fingers hoping Laplace will be selected. But be patient. Earliest launch date is 2018.. (sigh!) So NASA will probably be there first.<br /><br />I think the best ways for private funds to contribute to accelerate Outer System exploration would be <br />* either to provide a cheap launcher for 3000kg+ spacecrafts.<br />* and/or cheap energy generators (radio-isotopic generators are tremendously expensive, let alone issues with environmentalists)<br /><br />The agencies often considerably descope the science mission to fit less expensive launchers. In the case of an Europa mission, this is a big danger. Because four gravity wells are to be climbed or braked into (the Earth's, the Sun's, Jupiter's and finally Europa's). So the science payload mass-to- launch mass ratio is ludicrously low.<br /><br />Best regards.<br /><br />

 

[solarspot]

Perhaps someone could found a 'Europa Society' or some such under a different name... If interest in Europa really is as high as some seem to suggest, perhaps a non-profit organization could do work similar to what Planetary society and Mars society do, but for Europa...<br /><br /><br />

 

[mccorvic]

If there were a grassroots pro-Europa exploration foundation I'd most certainly be game. Such a group would also be great in raising "public awarness" for the moons. Far to often they are overlooked and ignored.<br /><br />Heck, if it weren't for the old saturday morning cartoon "Exo-Squad" back in the day I'd have never know about them. A good amount of the action took place on moons of Jupiter and Saturn.