Johns Hopkins Europa Impactor proposal

[vonster]

Interesting article about a Johns Hopkins "Deep Impact" style mission to Europa.<br /><br />Exciting because this could be done cheaper and on much shorter notice than a large Discovery class mission?<br /><br />http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1944.html<br /><br />"Karl Hibbitts, a research scientist at the John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, is working on developing a hyper-velocity impactor that could be carried on a future Europa orbiter. <br /><br />In this interview with Astrobiology Magazine editor Leslie Mullen, he explains why smashing down into the surface of Europa could provide details about the moon that an orbiter or even a lander could not"<br /><br />

 

[qso1]

Interesting mission plan. The Discovery class mission is not so large compared to missions like Cassini, Galileo, and Viking. By the time a Europa penetrator mission is ready to launch, computing power and microminiaturization should have enabled development of a smaller probe in any case. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>